Nearing The End
by space.puppy.bcg
Summary: Commander Shepard is nearing the end of the Reaper war. Can he succeed where no organic has before? Can Miranda Lawson hold him together until the end? Novelisation of the end of ME3 starting from Sanctuary. Not all canon - some major changes to the plot line. Final Chapter now up.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Hi guys, this is my first Fanfic. Basically my Sheperd is Paragon, John shepard with the spacer and sole survivor background. He looks like the default Shepard. My choices were - Ashley romanced in ME and also saved on Virmire. Council and Rachni queen were also saved. In ME2 all DLC's were played and all 12 squad members survived. The base was destroyed and Miranda was romanced. In ME3 all paragon choices were made, minimum amount of character deaths (Thane, Legion and Mordin) and Miranda was romanced. Again all DLC's have been played at this point however i will incorperate the last level of Leviathon into the story and also the social aspects of Citadel will be covered. I will be making some major changes to the plot line, mostly things like Miranda going on the Normandy etc. Not quite sure what I will do about the Crucible yet but i'll work on it!**

**21/04/2013 - Repost with some punctuation corrections**

Chapter 1 – Entering Sanctuary

He glanced around the shuttle, giving each of his companions a short look.

James was to his right. The marine was re-checking his Claymore for the third time. Shepard watched him screw the shredder mod off the end of the weapon, run his finger around the inside of the barrel to remove any dirt, and then place it back on the end of the shotgun. John remembered the words of his old N7 instructor - "If you've checked your weapon twice and found no faults, you've probably missed something. Check it a third time to be sure." James seemed to have had similar advice. He shifted the Claymore into his left hand, his right hand trigger finger pumping the air. He was itching for combat, looking forward to giving Cerberus some hell – feelings John himself echoed.

Tali was next to James. The young Quarian was, like John, glancing around the shuttle. She was just as curious as she had been when they first met in that back alley on the Citadel. She was the youngest on the team back then, not really in age but in her mind set, in a way, her innocence. She was the little sister of the squad, definitely more than capable, but still a little sister. She had changed like they all had but even though she was an Admiral, a leader of her people, she still retained that innocence. John was glad she decided to stay. Not just for her abilities as a fighter and engineer but for her absolute loyalty to everything the Normandy and her crew stood for.

Then there was Garrus. The Turian was John's greatest friend. He had been there from the start, never wavering from Shepard's side. Each one knew the other better than they understood themselves. In combat they were unstoppable and off the battlefield they helped each other cope. Shepard knew that Garrus understood him and his worries. His Turian friend knew how he was struggling. He helped in so many ways. No one else could do more than Garrus had done, well, except for Miranda of course.

John found his thoughts shifting to the Ex-Cerberus Operative. His thoughts of her were both a blessing and a curse. On the one side, he could remember their times together. Right from the beginning of the Collector mission when they fought against each other to the moments of bliss in the weeks following the destruction of the Collector Base. He cared for her, more than for himself. Of course there were the other thoughts of Miranda that he had to contend with as well. That sick feeling whenever he heard about other Ex-Cerberus personnel being found dead, or the fear after yet another nightmare culminating in her death. He knew he was running out of will, of fight. If he lost her... he couldn't think about that.

Clearing his thoughts, he turned to look at Liara next. He realised that she had been watching him, studying him as he did the same of the crew. Just like Tali, she had changed. Perhaps the most out of all of them. No longer the shy, naive archaeologist, but the intelligent and driven Information Broker. He knew what she had been through when he died, how she was unable to let go. She was the one responsible for rescuing his body and passing it to Miranda. Sometimes she scared him, in her Shadow Broker mindset, but the friendly, loving Asari was still there. She also knew of his relationship with Miranda and she wholeheartedly supported it, knowing what Miranda meant to him. She flashed him a small smile and he thought to himself she knows what I'm thinking again, he was sure she could read his mind. He returned the smile weakly before moving on with his analysis of the crew.

EDI was directly opposite him in the shuttle. The synthetic had her Omni-tool out, studying a flow of data. John wasn't sure what it was but knowing EDI it could have been intelligence vital to the war, or just an extranet site full of incredibly bad jokes. He chuckled to himself – it was probably

the latter.

Ashley was across from EDI, checking her Harrier battle rifle in the same manner as James. He was relieved when she had backed down on the Citadel. He would never have been able to pull the trigger on her and lived with it, regardless of what passed between them on Horizon. They both knew where they stood with each other. Good friends and that was it. He had yet to tell her about Miranda, he knew she would struggle to take it in at first. He knew he had to do it soon though.

Finally his head turned to the Prothean on his left. John found he understood Javik's position more and more each day. He was the last of his people, fighting for the revenge of a dead race. He supposed that he should still be in awe, after all he was a living and breathing Prothean. But, again, the impossible on the Normandy is just the mundane. Javik did have some interesting views on the many situations they had been in since they found him. Many of those views consisted of enslaving someone or throwing them out of the airlock but his sullen mood was understandable. Considering his own experiences in the war, John was becoming increasingly open to Javik's ideas. Especially when it came to Cerberus. Especially because of Thessia.

He had been assured by everyone that he did everything that was humanly possible. Even Liara, an Asari who saw her home world destroyed, had supported him. He appreciated this of course but could not believe them. The lives lost on Thessia, Palaven, Earth, and every other planet the Reapers had overrun were his fault. There was no escaping it for John Shepard. He didn't do enough to warn the galaxy of their coming, people only believed him once the Reapers were on Earth. And then he ran. He ran from Earth, he allowed Mordin to die on Tuchunka, he failed to save Thane, Legion was gone and now Cerberus had taken almost the last remaining hope for the galaxy. Thinking through the list of his failures, the commander realised he had missed out Kaiden Alenko. The brave marine who sacrificed himself on Virmire. That was to stop Saren, and ensure that the Reapers would never invade. He scowled, that really worked out for the galaxy.

Cortez's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Commander, there's a transmission from the facility."

He rose and moved into the cockpit, standing behind the pilots chair.

"I thought the facility was offline? No communications?"

"Yeah, it's weird. I'll patch it through now."

There was a hiss of static from the radio. This was followed by a loud bang and then a female voice. Young and, by the sound of it, scared.

"This is Oriana Lawson...this facility is a trap...it's run by Cerberus and..."

There was a crackle, more static, and then silence as the transmission was cut.

"Oriana?" Garrus walked into the cockpit. "Miranda's sister, the one we re-located right?"

"Yeah," John replied "Miranda said she went missing not long after Earth. She reckoned it was something to do with her father." he closed his eyes. "If Oriana is here, it's likely that Miranda is close behind."

A look of sympathy crossed his friends face. Garrus knew of their relationship and how deeply John cared about Miranda.

"I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Yeah," John agreed "she knows how to take care of herself."

He walked back into the hold noticing the inquisitive looks on many of the teams faces. He waited for the inevitable question.

"Who's this Miranda?"

The question came from Ashley. John swore under his breath and grimaced. Now wasn't really the time to tell Ash about Miranda. He opened his mouth to speak but Liara came to his rescue.

"She's a friend of ours. Worked with us on numerous occasions during the earlier stages of the war."

"Uh-huh..." Ash's response was accompanied by suspicious glances shot at Garrus, Liara, and then the commander. John could tell she didn't buy Liara's cryptic response but she didn't press the issue. He concluded that she didn't want to jeopardise their renewed friendship, something he was grateful for. He could do without another armed stand-off to protect Miranda when the two would have to meet.

Cortez's voice cut through the shuttle.

"3 minutes from drop-site team."

"Thanks Cortez," John began to relay the details again. Not just in his head but to the squad. "Here's what we know. This Sanctuary is a facility for war refugees that went offline a couple of weeks ago. Nothing has been heard out of this place since except from that communication from Oriana that says it is Cerberus. We also know Kai Leng stopped here. There must be something here so keep an eye out for any clues."

"Well it's nice to know what we are doing Loco," James voice practically dripped with sarcasm. John just shot him a glare. Banter was usual within the squad but now was not the time or place, not when so many lives were on the line. Then again, he thought, whenever are lives not on the line with us?

The shuttle touched down, the doors opening to reveal the entrance to Sanctuary. Ashley and James filed out taking up covering fire positions just out of the shuttle. The rest of the squad filed out, weapons drawn. John glanced around as he exited the shuttle. He drew his Revenant Machine Gun, adding his preferred ammunition mod, Inferno ammo. He took readings with his Blood Dragon Armours sensors. It came up blank.

"Hell of a fire fight here." James made the observation on everyone's minds. Their surroundings showed evidence of heavy fighting. Bullet holes, craters, and debris littered the entry paths. The only sound was the whine of the receding shuttles engines.

"Let's move forward. Eyes up people, we're not letting anyone get the jump on us this time." Shepard received a chorus of responses to his orders and then moved forward. He kept a steady pace, his adrenaline levels steadily increasing. Something was not right, he could feel it in his gut. If there was one certainty left in this war, it was that his gut was always right.

As they moved up they heard a whining noise, just like their own Kodiak shuttle. A Cerberus shuttle rose up from behind the front wall of Sanctuary.

"Cerberus!" Ashley's shout was cut short by an incredibly loud screech and a huge explosion. All of the squad looked up to see a Harvester shooting into the Kodiak. The shuttle crashed down onto the balcony over the entrance, the rear end on fire. The harvester took off in pursuit of another shuttle, screeching again. Replying noises could be heard from other Reaper creatures.

"And Reapers?" James said his reply with enthusiasm, obviously looking forward to a promising fight. His mannerism often reminded Shepard of Grunt. He had fond memories of Grunts happy laugh as he charged into mercs or Collectors, tearing them apart with his shotgun or bare hands. He was snapped out of yet another memory by movement near the shuttle.

"Survivors from the shuttle!" Shepard saw a nemesis and a pair of phantoms move along the balcony. He devised various plans of action, narrowing it down to his favourite in a split second. "Garrus and Ash, sniping positions. Liara, EDI, and Javik move up the left side and deal with the one phantom. James and Tali – with me."

The squad fanned out into their allocated positions immediately, a testimony to their incredible ability. A shot whizzed over Shepard's head exploding on the wall behind the nemesis on the balcony. Clearly Garrus was enjoying himself with his Kyrasae rifle, again. The explosion forced the Cerberus sniper out of his cover, open to Ashley's own Widow rifle. Her shot struck the nemesis on her chest taking the trooper out with a large hole in her chest.

Shepard turned his attention to the phantom closing towards them. He knew how dangerous they were up close and wanted it dead quickly. He let off a concussive round whilst ordering Tali's combat drone and James' carnage blast on the phantom through his HUD. The two blasts dealt with the phantoms barriers easily allowing the combat drone to start directly attacking it. Shepard opened up with his machine gun finishing off the specialist with a series of head shots. As the body slumped to the floor he checked on the progress of the other team. The phantom was suffering under combined biotic and tech powers, but still advancing. Garrus saw to that with a perfect head shot, destroying the upper half of the phantoms body with his explosive rounds.

"Got the quick bastard!" he exclaimed, shouldering his sniper to replace it with his N7 Valkyrie.

"Great lets move in to the facility," John started moving ahead. He knew that they had only just got started and couldn't afford to delay for long. Still he was happy about one thing. "At least the Reapers and Cerberus are now fighting each other. About time that happened."

Again a chorus of agreements rung out from his squad.

Making their way into the facility they saw another pair of Cerberus shuttles take off through the glass roof. Shepard watched them fly off into the distance for a few seconds before turning his attention to the entrance hall they were in. There were many seats and terminals surrounding them, with work desks further in. The hall itself was deserted but they weren't going to take any chances.

"Have you seen these data-pads?" Liara voiced the question to everyone else. Shepard walked over to her to take a look. The rest of the squad fanned out into defensive positions. "They have had thousands of people through here Shepard, hundreds of thousands. But where are they?"

"I don't know, but there is something going on here. It's too quiet."

"I agree."

"Let's move, we need to figure this out quickly."

EDI walked over to the large window behind the security desk. "Maybe we could follow in the direction of those shuttles commander? There are stairs down that way."

"Good call EDI," John peered over the railings looking down at a crashed shuttle next to the stairs EDI mentioned. "C'mon."

Shepard took point and moved down the stairs. Taking a right he saw bodies of both Reaper and Cerberus troops. He heard voices from the other side of the room behind the support columns. He could tell that they were Cerberus from the tone of their armours voice modules. He motioned for half of his team to go around the right of the columns while he moved around the left. The squad got the jump on the troopers, killing over half of them with combined grenades from Shepard, James and Ashley. The other half fell to combined biotics and small arms fire.

Shepard moved past the mangled bodies of the Cerberus squad to a data terminal in the next room. It was playing in a loop and his heart lurched as he heard the familiar, beautiful Australian accent of Miranda Lawson. He pressed the replay button to hear it from the start. He saw Miranda's face appear on the terminals screen

"If you've got this far then you must be desperate or stupid," Straight to the point as she always was."This is not a refugee camp but a Cerberus facility run by my father, Henry Lawson. You have to turn back, Sanctuary is a lie."

The rest of the squad arrived by his side to watch the terminals recording.

"So that's Miranda then."

John turned around to face Ashley. "Yeah it is," He started to walk out of the room, to an outdoor platform overlooking a small reservoir of water. "So we have, Cerberus, Miranda's crazy father and Reapers all mixed up. Any Ideas?" As he finished his sentence he moved over to a control panel.

"It's strange, that's for sure," Tali voiced her opinion as she walked up to Shepard. As she approached he glanced at her. She inclined her head, giving him a small nod. He knew what the gesture was for, she was reassuring him. He still couldn't help worrying about her though.

"Miranda's caught up in the middle of this."

Tali patted him on the shoulder. Again trying to reassure him. He then turned his attention back to the control panel. He pressed a glowing button causing a loud siren to wail. It was accompanied by the vibrating of some sort of underground mechanism.

"Look, the water!" Javik's exclamation pointed the squad to the reservoir. The water had drained away exposing various tech and a subterranean entrance into another part of the facility.

"That is clearly Reaper tech commander."

"That is a safe assumption Javik." agreed EDI.

Shepard moved down the ladder and advanced towards the entrance. He began running a bypass program whilst EDI took some readings of the Reaper tech. She finished just before the bypass program and the squad regrouped as the doors opened. Raising their weapons they advanced into the darkness of the compound.

They moved into a room with various control terminals and vid-screens spread around it. Here they saw the first Cerberus logos indicating the true nature of this facility. Various data pads were strewn around the room. They talked of test subjects and processing the refugees that arrived. Everyone agreed that it sounded particularly ominous. Shepard walked up to a semi-circle of terminals in the middle of the room. Garrus walked up next to him and stood on his left.

"It's in lock down. I'm going to have to turn on the power to get us in. Here we go."

He turned on the power to the facility causing various terminals light up the vid feeds of the laboratories. On one refugees could be seen being forced into tanks a bit like Grunt's tank on the Normandy. On another screen there were the same tanks but now they contained something else.

"Spirits, they're turning them into husks!"

The squad stood around the terminals not quite believing what they were seeing. James, meanwhile, moved towards the large window covering one side of the room. Lights could be seen flickering on in the huge chamber visible from the glass. Shepard could see him moving towards the window.

"Shit!" James was startled by the appearance of a husk climbing on the window he was standing in front of. The entire squad recoiled in horror as the husk that had jumped on the window roared at them. Dozens of other Reaper creatures could be seen wandering aimlessly around the large chamber.

"We have to shut this place down as well as getting the data. We also need to keep an eye out for Oriana and Miranda. However I'm not leaving this place standing."

The rest of the squad nodded solemnly, all still in shock and horror from realising what this place actually was, what it was for. They moved on through the main door into another room with another security booth with more terminals inside down some stairs.

"I don't get it. Why would Cerberus be wanting to turn people into husks? How does it help them?" Ashley voiced her opinions to John but he wasn't listening. "Commander? What is it?"

His attention was not on her. It was on the terminal in front of him. The terminal showing Miranda's beautiful face, telling the camera that she had gone in there, with those husks. This was followed by a vid of Kai Leng telling the Illusive Man that he would kill Miranda if he came upon her. The words of the assassin who managed to murder Thane Krios, his friend, were burnt into his brain. Kai would kill Miranda, his Miranda.

Shepard started moving to the door to the chamber. Slowly at first, drawing his rifle and extending his Omni-blade. He ignored the queries from his squad. He opened the door, slamming his omni-blade into the husk that emerged in front of him without a second thought. It's throat was ripped apart by his blade, tearing it's head from it's shoulder. He thought of Kai Leng's words again. He saw red. He charged into the facility pumping lead into any Reaper creatures that moved. Nothing would stop him.

**A/N thanks for reading. Advice would be really appreciated from anyone!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hi guys, thanks for all of the reviews - it's great to get your feedback. Just to let you know, I'm going to repost chapter 1 with a couple of edits, mainly punctuation errors, later on today. If you do spot mistakes - please let me know!**

**Here's chapter 2, hopefully you guys will enjoy it as much as the last!**

Chapter 2 – Path of Destruction

Shepard took cover behind the desk, waiting for the medi-gel to kick in. He had to get to her, he knew she was in danger. He just smashed through the first wave of husks, meeting the former test subjects in close combat, happy to have the chance to release some of his pent up frustration on them. He wasn't delirious yet though, not quite so mad as to run straight at the Reaper firing line of ravagers, marauders, and a banshee around the corner. He had taken a shot to his right shoulder from one of the Rachni troops as he rolled into cover, depleting his remaining shields and causing a wound.

Looking back he saw the rest of the squad moving up. They seemed to have overcome their initial shock at his sudden display of anger and were taking up firing positions. Suddenly he remembered the other door he had past.

"Liara, James, and Tali, move on through that door to your right. Flank the enemy and take out the ravager!" he relayed his orders in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Got it Shepard." Tali's response came through the comms.

He turned his attention to the other enemies in front of him. Looking around he could see another marauder on the cat walks above the chamber. He ordered Overload blasts from EDI and Garrus onto each marauder, depleting the shields of both of the converted Turians. As the blasts hit, Shepard had an idea.

"Javik, slam that guy off the catwalk now!"

"With pleasure commander!" The reply from the Prothean was accompanied by a crackle as his biotic amp powered up. The marauder was lifted high into the air, violently slammed into the support column next to it. The creature landed with a sickening crunch next to the other marauder, barely clinging on to it's life.

"Ash, grenade!"

The marine didn't bother replying, she didn't need to. He watched her remove an inferno grenade from her ammo belt and through it precisely between the two marauders. The explosion ripped the crippled one apart, while the other one staggered around for a few steps, being consumed by the flames. Now for the banshee, he thought grimly.

Shepard knew how deadly the banshees could be. He had seem them ripping apart entire squads of soldiers before being taken down. He started off with a concussive shot, ordering the same action from Ashley through his HUD. The barriers of the mutated Asari were depleted almost entirely.

"James, stop screwing around the ravager and frag it!" Shepard barked the first order through. "Liara, ignore it and warp the rest of the banshee's barriers! Tali, combat drone!"

Replies came through from the squad as they complied with their given tasks. On cue, the ravager exploded coating the wall next to it in slime, the banshee's armour was exposed by Liara's warp, and Tali's combat drone began it's rocket attacks. The banshee was beset on all sides, hurling biotic attacks in every direction it could.

"We need to deal with this bitch quickly!" John knew they were running out of time. Out of other options, he rose, reloaded his Revenant and ran at the banshee. He let off a grenade, tearing chunks out of it's armour, as he ran. Raising the heavy machine gun, he let off a good sixteen rounds into the bulge in it's midriff – causing yet more explosive damage with his inferno mod. As he reached close quarters he swapped his gun from his right hand to his left and drew his omni-blade, cocking his right arm back and hurling it forward into the banshee's right side. It let of a final, ear-splitting cry as it collapsed to the ground dead.

He reloaded his rifle and picked up a pair of thermal clips lying on the ground. He looked around at his squad, all performing similar tasks. He gave a nod to Javik and then to James, particularly pleased with their work so far.

"OK, let's move. We can't waste too much time."

"Lead the way Loco."

He led the team through a door on the left of the chamber, entering another room that looked like another laboratory. A terminal to his right was giving off strange noises, attempting to play another vid-log. EDI walked over to it, repairing the damage in it's circuit boards. Again Miranda's voice sounded in his ears.

She was reporting on her fathers involvement, talking about the Cerberus research project that was being performed in Sanctuary. Shepard wasn't listening to what she was saying though, his mind was running around in circles. It was trying to trick him, playing various scenarios of her death through his mind. I don't have time for this, he thought again.

"I know this work is important but we don't have time to stop," he turned to face EDI. "Download that Intel quickly, we need to move."

"Done commander."

He nodded at the synthetic and turned his attention to James. The young marine was staring at yet another window. He moved over to the door next to the window but stopped as he caught site of what held James' attention.

"Fucking scary right loco?" James was clearly disturbed by the banshee in front of him. "It ain't even blinking, hell these things freak me out!"

John found himself agreeing with the Lieutenant. The banshee was just staring at them, completely immobile. It had a terrifying gaze, enhanced by it's complete lack of motion.

"C'mon. It's locked up and I have no intention of releasing it."

"Thank the Goddess for that commander!" Liara formed up on his left with the rest of the squad following her.

Shepard hit the green, open panel on the doors centre point. It opened, revealing a long room with two levels. The one on the right was higher up, roughly about a metre and a half higher. Support columns, desks, and various pieces of large laboratory equipment were dotted around – useful for cover John noted.

The squad took two steps into the room before they caught movement. Cannibals and marauders were spread in two large squads, one on each level. His armour noted the presence of biotic barriers on some of the cannibals. His eyes roamed the ceilings surrounding the enemy, eventually confirming his suspicions - a pair of barrier engines, one on the left, one on the right.

"Garrus. Break out your sniper and remove those barrier engines. Then see if you can do something about the marauders," the Turian nodded his response and moved to his chosen sniping position. "EDI, James, and Ash with me on the right. Tali, Liara, and Javik, move down the left. Do as much damage as quickly as possible. Weapons free!"

The squad complied creating a short but brutal fire fight. The barrier engines went down quickly with the marauders soon following. The cannibals that remained were easy prey for the squad. As the gunfire receded John looked for replacement grenades, spying a crate on a table. Lying next to the crate was a familiar weapon, Miranda's Kassa! His worries exploded into his mind again – why would she leave her gun here?

He picked up the familiar weapon, remembering when he gave it to her. It was on the Citadel, just after the Bahak incident. She had been convinced on staying with him, prepared to be tried as a terrorist just so she could stay by his side. Miranda had begged him to let her stay, terrified of what would the Alliance would do to him. He remembered holding her, hating himself and the Alliance for putting him in that position. In the end she was forced to accept his reasoning, reluctantly leaving the Normandy, promising that they would see each other again soon. He remembered her last fleeting glance as she left the airlock with Jacob Taylor, strapping that very Kassa onto her leg. He suppressed the memory, carefully placing the Kassa Locust onto his hip.

Shepard walked towards the end of the room. There was yet another terminal with Miranda's voice on, Liara and Garrus were rewinding it while Ashley pulled down a ladder form a hatch above them. As he arrived Liara played the video log, everyone gathering around them.

They watched as Miranda explained what had happened in Sanctuary, explaining the research that her father had led in the horrific facility. Finally they learned the true plan of The Illusive Man, to control the Reapers! John had heard some ridiculous plans before, taking part and succeeding with many of his own, but this was truly insane. How could it be possible?

"He's truly lost it then?" Garrus' voice echoed John's own thoughts.

"So it seems." John replied, still impatient. "We need to move though."

"Wait, John," Liara's voice stopped him in his tracks. "There's more."

Shepard turned back to watch the screen. He saw Miranda, typing at the terminal in front of her, a shadow appearing behind. She turned, whipping out the Kassa that was now on John's hip. He saw his own nightmares repeated on the vid screen, horrified at the danger she was in. The screen cut out as she tangled with Kai Leng, showing her SMG being ripped from her grasp to land on a nearby table before it faded to blackness.

John stood still, appearing as motionless as the trapped banshee. Suddenly, without any warning to his allies, his limbs exploded into action. He grabbed his Revenant off the backplate of his armour and shot up the ladder Ashley had pulled down. He clambered out of the trapdoor and rushed around the corner in front of him. As he came around he took heavy fire from a pair of ravagers. Ignoring the hits he pulled out a grenade and lobbed it at them. He took up his gun and charged into the fray.

XXXXXXXXXXX

To say that Dr Liara T'Soni was concerned at the moment would be a colossal understatement, she was terrified. Her fear was for the commander, she knew how much Miranda meant to him, and the pain of losing someone so close. She remembered her own impulsive reactions when she learned of Shepard's death aboard the SR-1. Her anger at Jeff Moreau for not leaving the Normandy surprised her as well as the rest of the team. For a long time she blamed him, and then she blamed Shepard for having the audacity to die. After a while though, she began to blame herself. She knew it was irrational to do so – it wasn't her fault, but she had continued to punish herself regardless. It was a long time before she had let go of those feelings.

Yet she knew Shepard. He wouldn't start with blaming the enemy, the ones actually responsible. She knew he was currently blaming himself for Miranda's situation, though she also knew he would get to Miranda. The question was whether he would survive the hits he was bound to take getting to her.

Liara turned her thoughts from Shepard to her own situation. Currently she was hunkered down behind a protruding section of wall, pinned down by ravagers. Garrus was opposite her but the rest of the squad couldn't make it out of the trapdoor because of the Reaper troops suppresing fire. She quickly poked her head out to check on the Rachni troops that had been further down the hall. She suddenly realised that they were no longer there. Now they were just a mess of blood and slime, victim to a rampaging SPECTRE. Now was the squads chance.

"OK, it's clear team."

She watched the rest of the squad ascend the ladder, regrouping at the top.

"Where's the commander?" Javik was the first to assess the situation. Liara swallowed before giving her reply.

"He's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone?" Ashley walked up to Liara, clearly not happy to be out of the loop. Liara knew that she hadn't bought what was said on the shuttle. "He's involved with this Miranda isn't he? I don't see another reason why he would act this way."

Liara knew they had to be quick, Ashley's need for answers would only slow them down. Dimly she heard Garrus reply.

"Ash, he's lost control. We won't get him back, not until she's safe. We can explain everything later, for now we have to stop him from getting himself killed."

Ashley was clearly unable to empathise with the commanders position and, with the exception of Garrus, the rest of the squad were clearly unfocused. Liara felt as she did after defeating the Shadow Broker with Shepard, overwhelmed by a situation that was rapidly disintegrating. Then she remembered what she had done then. How she had closed her eyes, taken a deep breath, and seized command of the entire Shadow Broker Network. She had to do the same thing here.

Liara closed her eyes. She took a breath. She spoke.

"Right. Shut up and listen up." She spoke quietly but authoritatively, a bit like John always did. The others broke off their bickering and listened. "What matters is following him, making sure that he gets to her. Making sure they both survive. He has to live but so does she."

Liara turned her attention to Ashley.

"If she dies we lose him, end of story." She took another breath. "We have to follow, and quickly. Provide supporting fire. Identify the most dangerous threats and eliminate them as quickly as you can. Let's go."

The others were stunned by the authority in her voice. How she was able to take charge of the situation. None of them had heard her speak like that before.

James was the first to speak.

"Hell yeah Doctor!"

Then they all began to move.

The squad moved with purpose, advancing up the hallway through the carnage that Shepard had caused. As Mordin had once put it – his affinity for destruction was most definitely intact. Moving in past the corpses of the ravagers they took a right, moving into the upper levels of the large chamber where they had fought the banshee earlier on.

Liara caught sight of John again, he was pacing. It wasn't his usual pacing, when he was trying to unravel a particularly irritating problem, but furious, frustrated pacing. He looked more like a wild beast than a human, one that was caged and trapped, ready to lash out at everything. She approached carefully, making sure that she didn't startle him.

"Commander?"

He didn't reply straight away. When he did his voice was hoarse. "We need to get across on this platform. I can't find the fucking controls!"

Liara glanced around, spotting the panel immediately. She motioned for the others to join them on the platform. As the platform began to move he approached her.

"I must have missed that."

This concerned Liara again. John Shepard did not miss things. He never had to look twice around a room to find what he sought. It was another indication of his mood, one that she knew sympathy couldn't help.

As the platform neared it's destination she watched him walk to the edge, the rest of the crew warily studying him as well. His feet were on the very edge, his machine gun drawn, his omni-blade still deployed from his wrist. As the platform stopped he exploded into motion once again, leaping across the gap before the bridge was even deployed. He charged off without a second glance to the squad. Again.

"Goddess, we need to move!" The squad complied, all moving as one into the next chamber, not sure what to expect.

The scene was horrific, stopping Liara in her tracks. Shepard was in close combat. His adversaries were a trio of brutes - deadly, tank like beasts. Their own fury was usually unmatched, their own power unsurpassed even by their Krogan cousins. Yet here were three of them, outmatched by the commander.

She watched as he felled the first beast, slamming his blade upwards into it's throat. The end of the blade could be seen through the brutes mouth as it roared in defiance. Shepard replied with a roar of his own, unloading bullets from his Revenant into it's stomach with one hand – a feat she had never seen from any organic except for the old Shadow Broker. The kill took under two seconds.

She took notice of a pair of banshees approaching the fray from the other side of the melee. Remembering that she was effectively in command she ordered the squad into two teams, one for each banshee. They took cover either side of the room and began to target the enemy.

She glanced over to Shepard's position again as she reloaded her Hornet. His omni-blade had snapped off in the first brutes mouth but that did not deter him from the deadly close combat. He launched a furious right hook into the second brutes face, following it up with point blanc head shots as the beast reeled. It wasn't quite dead however and raised it's left claw, aiming to knock the commanders head clean off. At the same time the third brute was coming in on his left. He saw the threat and, to Liara's shock, dropped his gun on the ground. He pulled a pair of grenades from his pouches and moved so that he was directly in front of the injured brute. He slammed his right fist into the wounds in it's head, planting the grenade into it's face. He dove backwards, away from both of the brutes. The third brute prepared itself for a charge but was abruptly cut off by the explosion from it's comrades head. The entire area was covered in blood, some of it coating Garrus and EDI who were taking cover not far behind.

Liara turned back to the pair of banshees. She ordered combined attacks on them from both squads removing their barriers and leaving their armour open to damage.

Back in the centre of the room Shepard was re-engaging the final brute. It now had a series of shoulder wounds from the earlier explosion, giving the commander a chance to use the grenade tactic again. He dodged two powerful strikes from the brute and moved towards it's injured side, grinding the grenade into it's injuries. He rolled away, moving out of the blast range. The brute exploded in a howl of agony, falling dead upon the ground.

Liara noticed that Shepard's evasive manoeuvre had taken him within range of the banshees. They both turned their attention to the, now lightly armed, commander. Again Shepard did not seem to care for his safety and drew the Kassa Locust, ready to engage. Liara knew that he wouldn't survive the combat with them, not without his blade or Revenant. She decided to take drastic action and began to charge up a stasis field. She shot it, not at the banshees, but at Shepard to prevent him from moving and take any more damage from the creatures. The squad focused their fire, taking down both of the former Asari quickly.

As she released the stasis field from the commander, Liara saw him turn to her, his body still poised and ready to kill.

"What the fuck was that for? I'm not the enemy!" His face was a contortion of rage.

"You would have been killed Shepard."

"So? I..."

Liara cut him off, "What use are you to Miranda dead?"

Her question stunned him. A quick look of shame shot across his features as he processed her words. She smiled at him softly, hoping he would understand her actions. He nodded, clearly making his mind up about something, and turned around. He then moved through the room the banshees had come from, towards an elevator at the back.

"Tali, Ashley." Shepard's voice was surprisingly weak. "Come with me. Liara, keep the others here and hold this position. The command centres up here but I need you to be here in case Kai Leng escapes."

"Understood commander."

Liara watched them file into the lift, ready to ascend to the command centre. She prayed to the Goddess that they were in time. If Miranda was dead, the war could well be lost.

**A/N Please review guys, and thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N So here's chapter 3 guys. I found this one a lot more challenging actually, it contains a lot more dialogue and I found it harder to make it flow easily. If anyone does have any tips on making dialogue writing easier I would SERIOUSLY love to know!**

**So this chapter has Miranda in it. What I tried to do was to show that she is actually a caring and loving character without making her seem weak - regardless of her changing outlook she should still be a strong character in my opinion. **

**Also, I haven't reposted chapter 1 yet, I didn't have time the other day but I will do it right now.**

**Finally, I realised that I haven't put a disclaimer or anything up. I'm not sure whether I actually need one but - I don't own any of the characters, places, races etc, Bioware does.**

**Enjoy Guys!**

**24/05/2013 Edited for spelling errors.**

Chapter 3 – Damsel In Distress

For the last two decades of her life, Miranda Lawson could honestly say that she had never failed a task. Ever since she joined Cerberus she had completed anything ever asked of her without a single failure. From the mundane, simple tests given to her when she first joined the organisation, to the challenge of the Lazarus Project, bringing a dead man back to life. Now though, she found herself in an unthinkable situation. Lying on a cold floor, Miranda was injured, and only able to watch as her father held Oriana in his grasp. She had kept her sister safe for almost twenty years but, as soon as she had seen through the lies of The Illusive Man, it fell to pieces. She was defeated, and she knew it, about to face her death.

Miranda shifted her thoughts from her impossible situation to that dead man, a certain commander John Shepard. She had fallen for him, after so many others had tried to win her affections. She had never truly told John how much she cared for him, never fully explained her side of their relationship. A force of habit, she supposed, Miranda had always played her cards close to her chest. She knew he cared about her as well, a hell of a lot.

The Ex-Cerberus operative cursed her stupidity, the mistake that she had made by allowing herself into this finite situation. She had seen him on the Citadel, just before they attacked the Reaper base on Rannoch. He had looked tired, worn down, lacking much of his, usually, unshakable will. He had admitted that she was one of the few things motivating him to carry on the fight, her death would likely be the tipping point, she knew he would take it badly. Knowing John, he would launch himself off onto a personal vendetta after her father and probably die in his attempt at justice. The whole point of not rejoining the Normandy was to avoid that situation, to keep him focused on the Reapers, not her well being. If she had of joined him he would be here, with his crew. They would have succeeded, able to stop Kai Leng and her father, as well as keeping Miranda alive. Her miscalculation was immense, she may well have doomed the galaxy by being it's saviours downfall.

She knew that she could do nothing to prevent the inevitable though, she had no other plans left in play. At the sound of her fathers voice, she turned from her thoughts, managing an icy glare of defiance towards him.

"You've been a thorn in my side Miranda. For far to long you have defied me, preventing Oriana from having a life of wealth and luxury that I would have given her. One that she deserves!"

Her father said the words with confidence, truly believing in his sickening cause.

"You would have just used her! If you take her now, that's just what you will do!"

"No!" He emphasised the word, gesturing with the pistol in his right hand. His left was still gripping Oriana's arm harshly. "You always disappointed me Miranda. You could never grasp the true importance of my work, of my legacy. You were once so promising, it was a shame that you never had the strength to fulfil your destiny. I have to kill you now Miranda, I can't have you threatening Oriana's future anymore."

He lowered the pistol, aiming it at her head for the kill shot. Miranda prepared herself for the blackness, for the pain. She was ready for her death now, closing her eyes, picturing Shepard one last time. Happier memories filled her mind, allowing her to die with at least a slither of contentment, not just as a failure.

The shot never came. Instead of the bang of a gun there was a hiss, the sound of a door opening.

She heard a voice speaking. Not just any voice, but John's voice! Commander Shepard, he had come for her!

Miranda stood up, unsteadily rising to her feet, still feeling pain from her injuries. She turned towards the door, checking that she wasn't hallucinating. She quickly assessed the situation, there was a chance now, there was hope.

"Shepard, he's got Oriana. Don't let him take her!"

"Miranda! Are you OK?"

His voice would have fooled everyone else in the room. He sounded commanding on the surface, a stranger would have thought he was calm and relaxed. Miranda could tell otherwise though, hearing the undertones of worry in his voice. She noticed that he was barely restraining himself from attacking her father immediately. There was also a huge catalogue of injuries visible across his body unlike his squad-mates, Tali Zorah and Ashley Williams, who looked relatively unscathed.

"I'm fine Shepard, just don't let him go. Please!" She put extra emphasis on the please. Not because she needed to convince John, he would help her regardless, but because she needed to play her father. If Henry thought that Shepard would let him go and that Miranda was injured badly, she could strike him down when he didn't expect it. She watched Shepard take another step closer to her father.

"Don't come any closer!" Her father's voice contained a hint of panic for the first time in their encounter.

"We can resolve this situation peacefully Henry. No one has to die," John was managing to keep his anger in check, for now. All he had to do was resist the urge to shoot Henry, Miranda knew he had hated the bastard since she had told him about her troubled childhood. "Where's Kai Leng, where's The Illusive Man?"

"I don't know where either of them are," Miranda noticed that her father was actually telling the truth, a change from his usual behaviour. It seemed that The Illusive Man had betrayed him as well. "Leng took my research and left."

"OK," John moved a step closer to her father, he was still breathing heavily. "I came for Kai Leng, Miranda and Oriana. Not you. I'll let you go, I'll let you live. Just let Oriana go and put down the gun."

"If I let her go you'll shoot me. What do I gain in return?" Her father was a suspicious person, Shepard would have to pull off a convincing argument to get him to comply.

"Think about it. If I let you leave, you'll get your life in return which is an awful lot. And I'm a man of my word. I'll let you walk out of here unharmed, I promise."

Miranda could see her father working over the offer in his mind. She began gathering her strength together, ready to strike. She was sure he was going to fall for the trap, nothing mattered to Henry Lawson more than his own life.

"All right," He finally relented and released his grip on Oriana. The younger woman ran towards Miranda, standing behind her, still unsure and afraid. Henry then put the gun down on the desk next to him. "I want out now. Deal?"

Miranda felt immense satisfaction as she replied. "No Deal!"

She unleashed her biotics on him, as powerful as she could muster. He was slammed into the viewing window behind him, smashing it and falling to the ground, landing several stories below.

She immediately turned around, checking on Oriana's condition. Her twin was shaking, still in shock. Miranda put an arm around her shoulder, hugging her tightly.

"Are you OK, Ori? Did he hurt you?"

"I'm fine. I just want to get out of this place Randa." Her sisters reply was weak, her voice wavering.

"We'll be gone soon. Just give me a minute OK?"

"OK."

Miranda walked over to Shepard. He was peering through the hole in the glass, checking that her father was dead. As she approached she took a closer study of him. He was covered from head to foot in blood and gore. Some was the black-brown of reaper blood, but an alarming amount of it was his own, dark crimson blood. She noted his armour choice, Blood Dragon Armour. The irony of his attire was laughable, he was like her own knight – coming to her rescue. She would have dismissed the notion as ridiculous before the Lazarus Project, she had never believed in fairy tales. She had to admit to herself though, the newly found, emotional side of her mind found it a little bit romantic.

"Shepard," It was more of a statement than a greeting. "I can't believe it's you."

"Hey." His voice was alarmingly weak. She noticed the slump in his shoulders, a severe limp obvious as he walked towards her. His earlier anger had completely dissipated, replaced by sheer exhaustion. He looks like hell, she thought.

"I never pictured myself in this situation, a damsel in distress." There was absolute truth in her words. She had never needed help, not at any time in her career. Then along comes Shepard who helps her save her sister, not once, but twice and saving Miranda herself in the process. "I can't believe that it's over, finally. For both myself and Oriana."

"About your father..."

"It's fine Shepard. I'm glad he's gone, I hope you understand."

"Of course. I wanted to shoot the bastard myself," He shifted his weight to his right side, revealing more extensive injuries to his lower left side. "I can't believe you did all this, you did well though Miranda."

Miranda moved closer to him, putting one hand on his chest in a supporting gesture. "Did you worry?"

He put one hand on her cheek, caressing the right side of her face. His left hand slipped to it's usual position around her waist. His voice was a hoarse whisper, cracking as he replied.

"I was terrified."

She paused for a couple of seconds, unsure of what to say. After a quick deliberation in her mind she decided on her next word.

"Sorry."

They rested their foreheads together, just glad to be re-united once more. It was almost an exact replica of the moment he had returned from the Bahak Relay incident. It had been the first mission that they had taken on after the Collector Base and, despite what they had achieved as a team, Shepard had insisted on going alone. He had been gone for three days without any communications at all, terrifying Miranda. The only difference now was that the roles were reversed, Miranda being the one to cause the worry. She kissed him tenderly and reassuringly, attempting to console him with actions. He reciprocated, turning his head away after a few seconds to speak to his squad members.

"Have we got anything guys?"

Miranda turned her head as well, looking at his companions. Tali was studying an information terminal, Ashley standing next to her. It was the Alliance marine who replied.

"Shipments to and from other Cerberus bases. Maybe we can give them to EDI and Traynor. They may be able to find something, link it back to The Illusive man."

"I can do a bit better than that," Tali and Ashley turned to look at her, so did Shepard. She produced a small device from her pocket, offering it to John. "I got a tracer on Kai Leng when we were fighting. Just in case." Miranda allowed herself a smug smile, happy to provide a means to The Illusive Man's downfall.

"This is..." Shepard carefully took the transmitter from her. "This is just what we need. It seems that you thought of everything."

"Not quite," Miranda flashed him a smile. "Of course, no ones perfect."

John looked back up into her eyes, a hint of concern evident. He began to rub the back of his neck with his right hand, something he only ever did when he was about to ask a difficult question. She decided to give him a prompt, desperately hoping that he didn't ask the one question she was now dreading.

"What's wrong John?" her hands snaked around his neck to their usual place, his hands moving to her waist again.

"Can you come with me?" He asked the question softly.

Damn. He hadn't asked her before, she knew that he had understood her need to find Oriana, and he had reluctantly accepted that she didn't want to distract him. Now, she still had her duties to Oriana, she now had to find a way to protect her from the Reapers. He didn't need her, she had to convince herself that he really didn't need her.

"Shepard..." She began to speak, reluctant to have to leave him.

"Please..." If not for her genetically enhanced hearing, Miranda wouldn't have heard his voice. It wasn't the strong voice of commander Shepard, not the mischievous voice of John either. It was more like the tiny voice of a child, lost and scared, unsure and overwhelmed. She looked into his eyes, full of terror and anticipation. She had been wrong, he really did need her. She couldn't leave him, not in this state. She wondered if he would have been better if she hadn't of left him, had her absence reduced him to this?

He continued to speak, his voice quiet, trembling slightly. "Oriana can come too, it's safer on the Normandy than being on any planet. Plus you could help out, you don't have to go on any missions, just help out and..."

Miranda cut off the commander with a passionate kiss, stopping his attempts to convince her. She knew that she had to stick by him, to see him through to the end. At that moment Miranda vowed never to stray from his side again.

"I'll never leave you again John."

He tightened his hold on her, placing a kiss onto her forehead.

"Thank you," He gave her another kiss and then pulled away. When he spoke again there was some confidence in his voice, sounding much stronger than before. "We need to finish up here, you and Oriana can go out to the shuttle if you want. The others are downstairs, waiting outside of the elevator."

"OK," She gave him a final, chaste, kiss on the lips before taking Oriana's hand and leading her out of the facility. "See you on the shuttle."

They walked into the elevator together, Miranda giving Oriana's hand a slight squeeze. Her younger twin looked back at her, giving her a smile before speaking in a surprisingly chirpy, singsong voice.

"Randa's got a boyfriend!"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Walking out of the lift, the sisters were met by an assortment of warriors. Miranda noted several new members, not particularly surprising that John hadn't been able to get all of the Collector mission team back. She noted a young Alliance marine, a synthetic that looked vaguely familiar and an alien that also looked familiar. She did, however, recognise the Asari and Turian squad members talking together.

"Garrus, Liara," She led Oriana over towards them. "Good to see you again." Miranda was pleased that John's oldest friends had stuck by him, he had not been completely deserted.

Garrus spoke first, "It's good to see your OK Miranda. You too Oriana." She could hear the relief in his voice, she also saw a look of confusion cross Oriana's face. Well, she had never met him before!

"Yes, it is good." Liara seemed immensely relieved as well. She appeared tired as well, darker, purple bags underneath her eyes. They were all clearly feeling the pressure.

Looking around, Miranda could see utter devastation. A trio of brutes lay on the ground, mangled and riddled with horrific injuries. A pair of banshees lay next to them with a third a distance away, not quite so badly mutilated. Miranda noticed John's trademark Revenant machine gun lying in-between the brutes.

"You guys had a hell of a fight down here," Miranda saw Liara and Garrus sharing a knowing look between them, wondering what had transpired. "What happened?"

The young Alliance marine stepped forward to speak to her. He was wearing very bulky, heavy armour and carrying a shotgun. Probably just another jar-head marine, she wondered.

"Yeah, Loco was pretty intent on getting to see you Legs!"

Definitely another jar-head marine. She gave him an icy glare and walked past, ignoring the nickname for now.

Liara noticed Miranda's stare. "Let's go out to the shuttle."

The group began to walk, passing the mess of the dead troops. The very feminine synthetic had moved closer and was walking to Miranda's right. It turned it's head towards her and spoke in a familiar voice. "Miss Lawson, it is a pleasure to see you again."

"EDI?" Miranda found herself shocked.

"Yes Miss Lawson."

"Uhm...You got yourself a body. That's... nice I guess."

"Correct, and yes it is nice," Miranda noticed that EDI was gesturing with her hands as she spoke, perfectly imitating human behaviour. "Shepard and his team encountered this body as a Cerberus synthetic on Mars. I have re-purposed it to suit our needs and have continued to modify my core programming at the commanders discretion. I have surpassed my programmers expectations and will soon have no need for organics in this universe."

Miranda was lost for words at the statement, had EDI's sense of humour become even worse?

"That was a joke, Miss Lawson."

"I thought so," Yes, it clearly had. Miranda gestured to the strange alien in front of them. "Who is that?"

"That is Javik," The synthetic replied with a gesture towards him. "He is a Prothean."

"What?" The words came from Oriana, not Miranda. The revelation was a bit shocking, though it explained why he had looked familiar to Miranda, he looked similar to a Collector, of course. "I thought they were all killed?"

"Well I was not, human." The Prothean spoke with a hint of disdain. Looking at her sister, Miranda could see a look of shame cross her sisters features.

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

"Do not be sorry, human." With that, Javik walked off from the group at a quicker pace.

Garrus spoke up from the back of the group, "Don't worry, he's always a bit moody."

The group had descended the ladder they had come upon earlier, passing the place where Miranda had initially fought Kai Leng. It had been one of the toughest fights in her life, her opponent had been deadly in the close confines of the laboratories. The fight had even matched the ferocity of some of the battles on the Collector mission, this time without Shepard and a squad alongside her.

Passing out of the dual levelled chamber, the team moved into another laboratory. Miranda looked to her right, noticing the smashed glass into a side room to their right. She had a sudden panic, the banshee wasn't there!

"Where's that banshee gone? I thought I had trapped it!" Miranda instinctively readied her biotics, monitoring her surroundings.

"You did that Legs?" Again, Miranda gave him a glare. She definitely did not like the marine.

"The L.T. here decided to have a staring contest with it and lost," Garrus slapped James on his shoulder for emphasis. "Obviously intent on claiming a prize it came after us, we killed it while Shepard was up with you – it was the third dead one upstairs."

"Ah, I see," She turned to Vega, speaking in a deadly tone. "Do not call me that again marine."

"Sorry ma'am." James looked a bit taken aback by her threat, genuinely apologetic.

The team moved on in silence, heading out of the facility.

XXXXXXXXXXX

They were sat in the shuttle, waiting for Shepard and the others. They were in relative silence, the only speech from Oriana's enthusiastic questioning of both EDI and James. Her sister was clearly looking forward to living on the Normandy for a while. Miranda checked the chronometer on her omni-tool, impatient to see Shepard again. They had been waiting in the shuttle for ten minutes now, a concerning amount of time for post-op clean up.

After another minute or so of waiting Miranda could hear footsteps outside the shuttle, getting louder. She turned her head watching Tali step up into the entrance. The young Quarian shook her head and sighed loudly before speaking.

"Oh Keelah!" She made the remark with exasperation.

"What's wrong?" Garrus answered the question.

"Well," Tali rubbed her hands together, her trademark sign of nervousness, "Let's just say that Ashley doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut..."

"Ah," Garrus shook his head, "Fantastic."

As if on cue voices could be heard. Miranda was just able to make out John's voice, angrily rebuking Ashley.

"...what is you problem Ash?"

"It's not that I don't trust you..."

"But it is!" They were near the shuttle now, they had clearly been arguing for a while. "I don't necessarily expect you to like Miranda, but I do expect you to trust my judgement. She is more than trustworthy, highly skilled, and knowledgeable about Cerberus amongst many other things."

"One of those other things being that she spread her legs..."

A loud bang cut Ashley off, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath from the shuttle's occupants. Miranda jumped up to look out of the shuttle door, hoping that John hadn't hurt Ashley. It appeared that he had slammed his right hand against the shuttle's side in anger, not quite striking Ashley. His face was a contortion of anger and he spoke in a deadly tone.

"If you even dare to say anything like that again Ashley," He took a step closer to her. "I will not be held responsible for my actions. My trust in her is nothing to do with our personal relationship. It is derived from the fact that, unlike you, she did not desert me or slander me, when I needed her the most. And if you going to bring sex into this Ashley then you should know that she's far superior in bed than you ever were!"

Miranda felt rather smug, yet again, after that last statement, glad that he appreciated her talents. She wasn't so pleased, however, that she had already caused dissent amongst the crew. She made a mental note to speak to Ashley and attempt to make it easier between John and her. He needed all of his friends around him at this time, even her.

Miranda sat back down, watching Ashley stalk to the other side of the shuttle. Her face was impassive and she appeared locked in her own thoughts. John sat next to Miranda on her left, glowering at Ashley for a few more seconds. He sighed and leaned back into the shuttle, clearly exhausted. Miranda leaned into his right side, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes contently, feeling his arm slip around her shoulders as the shuttle took off.

**A/N Reviews/critiques welcome as ever!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N So here's chapter 4. Again I want to thank everyone for their reviews and suggestions, they're really helpful for me. **

**This chapter is really focusing on Miranda returning to the Normandy and learning the situation there. With the chapter I wanted to show how Shepard is struggling and the toll the war is taking on him, In a way that he really needs Miranda there. I apoligise if I have made Shepard seem a bit weak in the chapter, but it's kind of how I think he would be at this stage.**

**In response to one comment, I am trying to avoid this turning into an OTT drama - I really don't want that! :D **

**Also, as a quick Heads-Up, I am very busy over the next week now. I probably won't have an update out till between tuesday and thursday next week. Happy days if I do get one out before then though!**

**Re-post - removed an error in one of Dr Chakwas' lines - 23/04/2013**

Chapter 4 – Reintegrating

Miranda had never had a true home in her life, not really. When she lived with her father she had never thought of their mansion as a home, it had been a prison. Then, as a Cerberus Operative, she had moved between many planets and space stations, never staying for long in one place. No, she knew that a home was where one should feel wanted, accepted, and safe – not like any of the places that she had ever lived in.

That all changed during the Lazarus project though. It had been awkward at first but, as their diverse, and to be honest slightly weird, team had been built up, it had made the Normandy feel a bit like a home. After the Collector base, it truly became a home. The combination of Shepard's incredible leadership and completing the so called impossible, had turned them into a family. Admittedly a slightly dysfunctional one.

She did feel some trepidation stepping back onto the Normandy however. There was a new crew on board, as well as the new members of the shore party. Her concern was not for herself, she didn't care if she was shunned because of her past with Cerberus and The Illusive Man. She did care about causing problems for John though. He had already had an argument with Ashley, many of the rest of the crew would likely have questions as well, not to mention the Alliance Brass. Some of the Admirals would be concerned, there was no doubt of that.

There hadn't been much talking on-board the shuttle ride, the atmosphere had been rather cold due to the exchange between Shepard and Ashley. Oriana had persisted with some more of her questions towards EDI and James, particular the latter. It had transpired that they both shared a passion for cooking, both discussing and explaining various recipes. She was glad that Oriana wouldn't be mistreated because of Miranda's own past, however she wasn't too glad of the marines obvious flirting with her sister. At least he had not given her a derogatory nickname, he had taken to calling her "Mini". Miranda made a note to warn him off her sister, Oriana deserved better than a jar-head marine.

Ashley was the first to leave the shuttle when the door opened, storming off without a word to anyone else. The rest of the squad left soon after, Tali muttering about someone being a Bosh'tet. She couldn't be sure if she was talking about Miranda herself or Ashley. It left Miranda, Oriana, and Shepard in the shuttle together. Miranda stood up first, turning to help John up. He didn't resist her help, an unusual occurrence in itself.

As they left the shuttle, John spoke for the first time. "So, welcome to the Normandy Oriana. Hope you don't find it too boring."

"Seriously? This is gonna be awesome, I've never been on a ship like this before!"

As they waited for the elevator Shepard walked over to the shuttle pilot, handing him his right gauntlet. "Can you sort out the omni-blade for me please Cortez, a brute kind of...bit it off."

The pilot shook his head, giving John a tsk. "Of course commander, though you really should think of me and my work load the next time you decide to feed a brute!"

John laughed in response. "Thanks Cortez."

By then the elevator had arrived again, it was as slow as Miranda had remembered. They filed in alongside Liara, John selecting both the Crew Deck and the CIC. John spoke again.

"Right, you two should go to see Dr Chakwas. I need to report to Hackett."

Miranda rolled her eyes, expecting this reaction from him. Shepard had always disliked going to the med-bay straight after missions, he liked to debrief before anything else.

"That's all very well John, but you need seeing to more than either of us. You've injured your right shoulder, all down your left side by your hips, and you've done something to your left wrist – don't think I didn't see that one!" Miranda was amused at John's reaction, his mouth opened and closed a few times, ready to argue with her. In the end, he decided better of it. His face adopted a resigned look as he replied meekly.

"Fine."

Liara left of a small chuckle next to them. "Wow Miranda, I can never get him to go straight away!"

"Yeah, yeah T'Soni," John sighed, shaking his head. "It's not as if you can threaten to kick me out onto the couch at night!"

Miranda couldn't resist adding to the banter. "Who says I'm sleeping with you commander?"

"Randa, don't tease someone who saved our lives!" Her sisters protest was said with a certain degree of seriousness.

"Meh, he still owes me for the Lazarus Project." Miranda directed a smirk at John, he rolled his own eyes in reply before leading them out of the elevator and towards the med-bay. Liara left them, heading to Miranda's old XO office.

Walking into the med-bay, they saw the doctor, preparing a set of surgical instruments and packets of medi-gel next to one of the beds. She looked up as the doors closed, smiling warmly at both Oriana and Miranda before analysing and scowling at the commander.

"Well, it's great to see you again Miranda," Chakwas walked up to Miranda and shook her hand before turning to Oriana. "And you must be Oriana yes?"

Her sister nodded in reply, smiling back at the doctor.

"OK then. Miranda, can you and Oriana sit on one of the beds over there? Your injuries will require some patching up, though nowhere near as much as this idiot's!" She gestured at John as she spoke.

"Thanks Doc, kindly as always." Shepard walked over and sat on the bed by the tools. He took off the majority of his armour, eventually sitting on the bed bare-chested. Miranda caught Oriana staring wide eyed at his Greek anatomy, amused at her sisters gawking.

She watched the doctor begin her work, running a medical scan over his body. She was talking to him in a kind, motherly manner. It had been obvious throughout the Collector mission that she cared about the commander very much.

"I told you after Rannoch, no more insane risks!"

"Hey, it's not as if I faced off a Reaper down in Sanctuary is it?"

At that Miranda sat bolt upright, staring daggers at John. "You did what?"

He turned his head around to face her. "Well, if I hadn't of killed it then it would have retaken control of the Geth again. I didn't plan to be rolling around, dodging it's laser whilst trying to give the Quarian fleet a target lock!"

"I'm not even going to contemplate that John." Miranda replied in a resigned voice, she had given up trying to be his voice of reason a long time ago.

"Right," Doctor Chakwas had completed her diagnostics, giving the results a quick study. "Your wounds to your right shoulder are pretty much healed already, so are many of the wounds to your left side. You may have a limp for the next few hours or so. The most concerning injury is your left wrist, it's completely shattered – how the hell did you manage that?"

"Erm...firing a Revenant machine gun with one hand may have had some effect on it. I suppose."

Again Miranda found herself shocked, no one should be able to handle that weapon with one hand.

She saw the doctor shake her head and give him a tsk, berating him once again.

"Well that would explain it I suppose. I'm going to strap up your wrist now, you won't be able to use it for a couple of days. Once I've done that you are to do two things. Firstly, go and have a shower to wash off all of that blood, the wrist strapping will be waterproof so don't worry. Then, tell Jeff to set a course for the Citadel. You've run us out of medi-gel again and with your burn rate there won't be enough for another mission."

"Fine." Shepard's reply was a bit of a mumble, though Miranda was pleased that he hadn't stopped taking sensible advice from everyone.

The doctor worked in silence for a few minutes, the occasional hiss of pain audible from John. Once completed she nodded to him and moved over to Miranda. Miranda shook her head towards the doctor before speaking.

"Can you look over Oriana first please, doctor."

Now it was the doctors turn to roll her eyes. "You two are as stubborn as each other. But yes I will look at her first."

Chakwas walked over to Oriana's bed, the pair beginning to chat animatedly as the doctor ran a diagnostic over Miranda's younger sister. Meanwhile John gathered his things, getting up to leave the med-bay. Before he left he came over to Miranda, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

"You can come upstairs when you've settled Oriana if you want."

Miranda gave him a wink. "Can't wait commander."

He gave the doctor a quick thank you and a smile to Oriana before leaving, Miranda watching him walk off with a smile.

XXXXXXXXXXX

John sat on the floor in his bathroom, cold water from the shower stinging his wounds as it made contact. He hadn't sustained such painful injuries for a long time, however, it had been worth it. Now he had one less worry, Miranda's safety.

John was glad that Miranda had dealt with her father herself. He hoped that she would gain some closure from the event, that she would be able to move on with her life now. He knew about some of her issues, some of her childhood history. From what he knew she had been treated as a possession, not as a child. He had despised Henry Lawson from the moment that he first heard about her, but seeing his work on Horizon had turned it into a blind hatred. He couldn't believe what The Illusive Man and Cerberus had been up to in Sanctuary, it was disgusting.

His thoughts also drifted back to his argument with Ashley before getting into the shuttle. He had been annoyed with her, but maybe he had gone a bit too far. Sure, he would defend Miranda against any insults or slander, but he had a feeling that Ashley was just looking out for him. He didn't want to speak to her now though, he was sure she would still be pretty mad at him.

He gasped, feeling a twinge of pain from his shoulder. John shifted his back against the wall, resting his head backwards. He reached up, turning the shower off with his left hand. He supposed that he should tidy up his cabin before Miranda came up, it was a hell of a mess. Still, she would be busy settling Oriana in for a while, he could afford to sleep for an hour or two. He yawned, wanting to fall asleep there and then. He really couldn't be bothered to walk to his bed.

He closed his eyes, sleep overtaking him.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Miranda was smiling as she walked up to the door of Shepard's cabin, feeling happier than she had done for a long time. So far things had gone well on the Normandy, Oriana seemed happy to be here, and now she could keep an eye on John. She was not, however, happy to see the state of the loft as she opened the door.

She had never known him to keep his cabin tidy, throughout the Collector mission it had been a bit of a mess at all times. To be fair to him, he had tried when she moved into his cabin after the Collector Base, but now he seemed to have given up again.

His desk couldn't be seen underneath a huge pile of data-pads and other office stationary. Clothes and pieces of armour were strewn across the floor, the majority of them showing blood stains. Though all of this did concern Miranda, she was more worried about a vast amounts of empty bottles that were left around the bed. As she descended the stairs she could see that all of them were alcoholic beverages of some sorts, the majority of them being various alien equivalents of whisky, rum, and other hard liquors. She had known him to have the occasional drink before, but not in such large quantities.

Shepard was no where to be seen in the cabin, though EDI had assured Miranda that he was still up here. She walked back up the small flight of stairs, stepping over his armour and into his bathroom, she was greeted by a heartbreaking sight.

He was lying on the floor, leaning against the floor, sleeping. John was dripping wet, shivering in the reasonably cold air, wearing only a pair of boxers. This is what the war had reduced him to then, thought Miranda, an absolute wreck.

She stepped past him, taking a couple of clean towels off the bathroom shelf. She turned back to him and knelt down, putting a hand around his back as she spoke softly to him.

"John, wake up," She rubbed his back gently, trying not to startle him awake. "John."

He opened his eyes slowly, appearing confused for a second before looking up into her eyes. He got up quickly, suddenly grabbing one of the towels from Miranda and wrapping it around his waist. She stood up as well, following him out of the bathroom as he began to talk to her rapidly.

"I'm sorry, I was gonna tidy up before you came up. You don't want to be living in this mess." He picked up a few dirty t-shirts, throwing them in his laundry bin. "I kinda fell asleep, I didn't mean to sleep for that long, especially not on that floor."

"It's OK." She reassured him smoothly, placing a hand on his back once again.

"No, it's not. It isn't fair that you have to see this." He spoke with a degree of agitation, though Miranda had a feeling that he wasn't speaking about the room.

"Do you mean the state of your cabin, or the state of yourself?"

At that he stopped moving, his shoulders slumped and his head hung down, a look of sheer depression crossing his features.

"Me, I guess."

Miranda wasn't quite sure what to do, she had never been particularly good at comforting people. It didn't help that he was usually such a strong and driven man. In the end she decided to turn him around and hug him, holding him tightly. It seemed to work, she could feel him relaxing slightly in her arms.

Still holding him she began to speak, calmly and reassuringly.

"You need to have something to eat, and some sleep. Don't worry about the cabin, I'll sort it out." She pulled back from him, now looking directly into his eyes. "You go and lie down for a while, I'll go and get us some food from the mess hall. Is that a deal?"

"Yeah."

"Good," She gave him a quick kiss, letting him go and watching him move over to the bed before speaking. "I'll be back in a bit." With that she turned and began to walk out of the room.

"Miri," She stopped, turning back around at the use of her childhood nickname. "Thanks."

She gave him another smile before walking out and into the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXX

As Miranda left the elevator on the Crew Deck, she could hear two voices talking to one another. She stopped moving, wanting to know who it was before revealing herself.

"...You just have to understand," Miranda identified the first voice as being Liara's. "Shepard needs both Miranda and all of his crew alongside him for this. He's struggling Ash, you know it."

Miranda furrowed her eyebrows, she did want to speak to Williams but would it be too soon to do so now? She needed to speak to her in a rational state of mind, if she was still angry after her argument with John on Horizon then there would be no point in even trying to talk to her. It would only antagonize the Alliance marine. She heard the clink of cutlery on a plate, someone was clearing up, ready to leave. May as well do it now then, thought Miranda. She walked around the corner, thinking through various scenarios in her mind.

"Whatever you say Liara, I just don't trust her. Not at all. She's just..." Ashley stopped speaking as Miranda came into view, giving her a scowl before turning around and leaving. "I'll see you later T'Soni."

Liara shook her head, clearly unimpressed at Ashley's actions.

"I should go after her." Miranda began to walk away but stopped at the sound of Liara's voice.

"No, I think we should talk first Miranda." There was a surprising degree of firmness in the Asari's voice, showing just how much she had changed from their first dealings over Shepard's body.

"OK then." Miranda sat down opposite Liara, folding her arms across her chest in anticipation.

"I just think that you should know the situation here first, that's all," Miranda gestured for Liara to continue, the Asari taking a sip of her tea before speaking again. "As you have probably gathered, things aren't in a particularly good situation at the moment."

Miranda had to agree with that, things were not right on the Normandy at all.

"You know about what happened on Rannoch?"

"Yes, Chakwas filled me in on that whilst looking over Oriana and I."

"Well, afterwards we had a breakthrough. The Asari Councillor, Tevos, told us to head for Thessia, there was a relic there that she believed would help us to find the catalyst."

"That's the missing piece of the Crucible, yes?"

"Yes, though I'm a little concerned that you know about the device's existence."

"John gave me access to Alliance resources, I had a peek at what you guys were doing."

"Ah, that would explain it then," She took another gulp of tea before continuing. "Well, we arrived on Thessia whilst it was under heavy Reaper attack. It was utter devastation, my people were being annihilated by the thousands."

Miranda remembered the scenes from Earth, it must have been difficult for Liara to see her own people suffer the same fate.

"We reached the relic to discover that it was a Prothean Beacon that my government had hidden from the rest of the galaxy. They had ignored the majority of it's information, only wanting to gain technological advancements from it. It turns our that there was a Prothean VI in the Beacon, it contains the answers that we so desperately need."

Miranda could sense a huge "but" on the Horizon. "What happened?"

"Kai Leng arrived, defeated us in a fight, and stole the data. As he got away Reaper capital ships began descending on the cities around us, decimating the remaining military. We were the last ship to leave the system."

"That bastard!" Miranda had always hated Kai Leng, even when they had worked together at Cerberus.

"Indeed. Well you can guess that John took it badly, he blamed himself for all of it, just as he has blamed himself for every death caused by the Reapers. In addition, EDI had informed us that she hardly ever sees Shepard eating, I know he's not been sleeping well since Earth, and Garrus finds him drinking pretty much every night," Liara put her cup down, staring straight into Miranda's eyes as she spoke again. "I know that you were looking out for your sister, but Garrus, Tali, and I decided after Thessia that we were going to track you down and, if we had to, force you back onto the Normandy for his sake."

"I had no idea things were quite this bad Liara."

"Yes, well, when we discovered that you were on Sanctuary being pursued by Kai Leng, he lost it completely. He tore through the facility on his own to get to you, he ran off and left the squad behind. Those three brutes by the elevator – he killed them in close combat completely unaided."

Miranda put a hand over her eyes, shaking her head. She despised the unfairness of it all, the fact that John was always being forced into these impossible situations. He was at risk of burning out now, regardless of how close to the end he was.

"Well, I..." Miranda glanced over to the kitchen area of the mess hall, thinking of what to do next. "Thank you for telling me this Liara. Could you do me a favour? I think I need to sort things out with Ashley, it would be better to do it now. Could you put some toast on, I promised John that I would bring him up some food."

"Of course," Liara smiled at Miranda as they both got up. "It's good to have you here though Miranda, regardless of your past."

"Thanks Liara."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Walking into the Starboard Observation Deck Miranda could see Ashley sitting on one of the sofas, staring out into space.

"What do you want Lawson?" Her tone was harsh, accompanied by a glare visible in the window in front of them.

Miranda threw all of her weight onto her right hip, placing her hand there as well. She knew, however, she had to keep her temper under control, not wanting to antagonise the marine any more.

"Look, I'm gonna cut straight to the chase." She decided that it would be easier to deal with the issue straight away, not skirting around it.

"Whatever." This was going almost as well as most of Miranda's conversations with Jack.

"We're never going to be the best of friends, quite frankly I couldn't care less what you think of me," That was the absolute truth, Miranda wasn't here to earn the woman's approval. "I do, however, care about John. He doesn't need the pair of us to be at one another's throat over differences of personal opinion."

"I know that Lawson." Ashley huffed as she replied, clearly agitated.

"Then, for John's sake, don't bother going on about me to him. I don't care if you keep a close eye on me, Garrus did the exact same thing when John and I first got together on the Collector Mission, he even warned me that he would shoot me if I ever harmed him." Miranda remembered the Turian's threat word for word. At first she had been annoyed, angered that anyone would have the audacity to speak to her like that. She soon realised that it was merely an indication of the strength of his friendship with John. "That's all I wanted to say to you."

Miranda turned around, walking out of the room. She stopped, hearing Ashley's reply as she stood in the doorway.

"I'll drop it for now, but for Shepard's sake, not yours."

Miranda left the Observation Deck breathing a sigh of relief. It was one less problem to deal with.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Despite Miranda's words to him earlier, John had not taken a rest. Instead he had embarked upon a rapid cleaning spree, removing dirty clothes, tidying up his desk, and placing the bottles into a box ready to be jettisoned.

Now they were lying on the bed together, Miranda resting her head on Shepard's shoulder. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him, to tell him. Now though, she didn't want to break the silence. She supposed that they would have time to talk later, she wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Looking up at John, she could see that he was staring up through the roof window, gazing into the cosmos.

"You know you can talk to me, don't you John? You know you can tell me anything?" She asked the question tentatively.

"Yeah," He kissed her forehead before closing his eyes. "Just..."

She finished his sentence for him. "Not at the moment?"

There was a pause.

"Yeah," His grip on her tightened a bit."I will let you know everything Miri, but not tonight."

"OK."

She smiled, pressing as close to him as she could, happy to be next to him once again.

**A/N thanks again for reading. Reviews and suggestions wanted!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N So the week of hellishly busy work is over, here's chapter 5. It was difficult to write, I wanted to incoperate stuff from the Citadel DLC but not just be writing out the canon stuff. My apoligies if it is a little disappointing, the next chapter will be better.**

**I have my plan for the entire fic sorted now, it'll be off to Ontarom for chapter 6, expect it between thursday and friday this week.**

Chapter 5 – The Citadel

The squad was in the war room, all gathered around the circular tactical map in the middle. He had gathered them all to discuss the plans for the final days of the war. He quickly looked around, checking that the entire squad were all present including Miranda to his right and Specialist Traynor around to his left.

"Well, there isn't long to go now," His voice was calm, steady and confident. It was completely opposite to his true feelings, his nerves were now only increasing. There were still so many unknown variables, their chances were still minute at best. "We still have a few more things to do though. EDI, can you run the display please?"

The display changed to show the Horsehead Nebula, then zooming in on the Anadius system. There was a red dot in orbit of the giant star labelled Cronos Station.

"This is The Illusive Man's base of operations. Miranda's tracer shows that Kai Leng is still there, and I'm betting that this is where the VI from Thessia will be. The Illusive Man will probably want to keep it well defended."

James cleared his throat. "I'm not being rude or anything but," The squad turned to regard him, the marine himself was speaking towards Miranda. "If you were high up in Cerberus, how come you didn't know where this space station is?"

Not such a bad question actually, Miranda did have access to a lot of privileged information within Cerberus.

Miranda echoed his own thoughts. "That's a fair question. I was only ever invited to The Illusive Man's base three times. All three times I was never informed where we were going and had to travel on various automated transports, taking various detours to avoid followers and probably to avoid working out where I was being taken. In addition, it is a moveable space station, I wouldn't have been able to give you reliable intel, even if I had of known where it was."

"That makes sense, keeps in with the whole, compartmentalisation system that Cerberus runs." Garrus clearly respected the method. Coming to think of it, Garrus nearly always respected his enemies methods. Miranda nodded her agreement towards the Turian.

John continued with his brief. "Well, we have to take it out damn soon. We can't have Cerberus stabbing us in the back on Earth as well. However, if we attack it then we have to move straight to Earth, we have more to do before then. Firstly, there's a communications array on Ontarom that has been attacked by Cerberus. We need to secure it, otherwise we will lose vital data and communications in the sector. The second thing we have to do is find this Leviathan. Thanks to Ann Bryson's help, we have narrowed it's location down to several uncharted planets that are dotted about the galaxy. We need every asset going into Earth, and this thing is clearly powerful. Miranda, I'll brief you on it later." The brunette nodded again.

"Where are we headed first commander?" The question came from Javik.

"Neither place. We're running low on some vital supplies and it's likely that we won't have chance to stop again. In addition," He gestured to his wrist. "I'm not allowed to fight for a day. We're headed to the Citadel now, we'll be docking in a hour," He watched the Prothean shake his head, clearly unhappy to have to wait for his next fix of fighting. "Once we dock you all have ten hours of shore leave, use it well. Dismissed!"

He received a variety of salutes, bows, and nods before the team departed. He did, however, stop one of them.

"Ash," She halted halfway up the stairs. "Can I have a word with you please?"

"Sure." She turned around, walking back towards him.

Miranda was still standing next to John. She touched him lightly on the arm before speaking.

"I'll leave you to it."

"No," John had given the issue between the pair of them some thought. He reckoned that he needed to talk with both of them, if they could get along it would be very helpful. "I want to speak to both of you."

Ashley stood, leaning against the display unit, eyes narrowed. Miranda stood closer to him, weight on one hip and her arms folded underneath her breasts – her usual, defensive stance.

"Look," He began, not exactly sure of what would work. "I'm not expecting you guys to be mates and all but..."

"It's fine John." He looked at Miranda in confusion, then to Ashley.

"Yeah, we had a chat last night," The marine didn't sound particularly thrilled. "We're putting aside personal differences for the sake of the mission and for you. I'm gonna say here and now though Shepard, I'm trusting her not you."

"Ah..." He should have guessed that Miranda would try to sort out that particular problem. She had only been here one night and had already fixed one potential problem. "Well thanks for that guys, I'm pleased. Ashley, I'm sorry for what I said on Horizon though. It was heat of the moment, I just want you to trust me."

"Like I said, I do Skipper." She gave him a smart salute before turning and walking off.

He turned to regard Miranda, seeing a smirk on her face as he put his hands around her waist. "I should have known you would sort that problem out." He gave her a quick peck on the lips, a smile on his own face.

"I'm staying to help you John, I wouldn't be doing that if I was causing dissent amongst the crew would I?"

"Suppose not," His attention was attracted by a buzzing from the QEC in the nearby comms room. "Damn. I haven't actually reported to Hackett yet."

"Go and do that John. I'll meet you by the airlock in ten."

"OK," He gave her a final kiss before letting her go. Miranda walked out of the War Room as John walked in the opposite direction, approaching the QEC. "Patch me through to Hackett please EDI."

After a few seconds the Admirals form appeared before Shepard, his grizzled and weathered features studying the commander. The particular expression on the Admiral's face this day was one of curiousness and puzzlement.

"Commander," Hackett placed his right hand under his chin, supporting the elbow with his left hand. "I wasn't in support of your diversion to Horizon, however I'm glad you did. That abomination had to be shut down, the lab you raided on Sanctum hinted at something big but we had no idea of the sheer scale of it."

The commander nodded his agreement. "It needed to be done."

"I also heard about your new crew member, Miss Lawson."

"Admiral..." He was cut off by Hackett.

"I have no problem with her presence, especially if she can keep you focused."

"Erm..." Shepard rubbed the back of his neck nervously, he could count the number of people who knew of their relationship on one hand. He certainly didn't expect the Admiral to know.

"Before you ask, I was notified of her presence by Dr T'Soni. It was, however, your mother who insisted to the rest of the Admiralty Board that she be allowed to stay. She informed me of the personal circumstances between yourselves, and I have no objections."

Shepard was unsure of how to respond. He had met up with his mother after the Collector Base, for a couple of hours on the Citadel. John had introduced his mother to Miranda as his XO, not as a girlfriend, they had agreed that she would have objections to his involvement with an Ex-Cerberus Operative. After five minutes of talking his mother had asked whether they were sleeping together, clearly seeing past their attempted deception – she had always been able to tell when John was either lying or clearly very happy. She had had a surprising reaction, accepting Miranda and approving of his choice. John turned his attention back to Hackett as the Admiral continued to speak.

"Talking of your mother, she sends her regards and strict instructions that you are to call her soon. She's a little worried I think."

"OK, I'll do that."

"Good. Keep up the work Shepard, we are all behind you."

"Thanks Sir." Shepard saluted, Hackett's blue avatar returning the gesture.

"Hackett out."

Shepard turned, heading out of the War Room to the airlock.

XXXXXXXX

"It's not a part of town that I would usually associate you with Shepard, I like it though."

He had to agree with Miranda's words, it wasn't his usual kind of place, it was a very kind gesture from Anderson though. Of course, it hadn't been that simple to just relax in the flat. He'd had to kill an army of mercs lead by a deranged clone before that could be done.

"Yeah, it's great," He began walking towards the bar at the rear of the flat. "Wanna drink?"

"Sure," Miranda walked past him moving to the other side of the bar from John. "So, this clone?"

He looked up. "You didn't know anything?"

"No," She leaned forwards onto the bar. "I had no idea. Though I was a bit pre-occupied at the time."

He gave a chuckle. "Guess you were."

Miranda took the glass of juice he offered her and walked towards the windows overlooking Silversun Strip, taking a sip of it before placing the glass on a nearby shelf.

"Aw, they closed my favourite sushi restaurant."

Shepard coughed, spluttering his own drink. He hadn't told Miranda about his embarrassing moment in the restaurant, it hadn't been his intention to cause such a problem.

"That's...a shame."

Miranda clearly caught onto his evasiveness, turning to face him with a look of mock hurt.

"Oh, Shepard. You didn't, did you?"

"I did, fell right through the fish tank." He said the line dryly, in a matter of fact voice.

"And why did that happen?"

"It...exploded." He felt as if he was being berated by a school teacher.

"Everything explodes around you." He had to agree with that statement.

"Hey, blame the clone. It was part of his plan, not mine!"

"It shouldn't be part of anyone's plan." Again, she was right.

"Look, it was the first part of his plan to take over my life. We stopped it."

"Why would anyone want your life? All that running, jumping, and...exploding." Did she always have to be this correct?

"I try not to think about it."

"How do I know that you are actually you? That your not the clone?" Her tone was once again playful.

"I'm not, he's definitely gone."

"I don't think that the galaxy could survive two Shepard's, imagine the collateral. I still need convincing though." She turned back around to the window, Shepard approaching her from behind.

Shepard put his arms around her, turning Miranda around and kissing her passionately. After a few seconds they pulled apart, Miranda smirking at him.

"A compelling argument."

He kissed her again before letting go, both taking sips of their drinks. She put hers down, studying him before speaking.

"I was thinking, we should go out tonight. I promised to take Oriana shopping, neither of us have any spare items, but we will only be a couple of hours. I was thinking that we should go to the casino, a night out. What do you reckon?"

He smiled, thinking over her words. John knew that she was trying to distract him, he guessed that Miranda was still concerned for his state of mind. Though, they had never been on a proper date, he liked the idea of it.

"I'd love that Miranda."

"Great," She finished off her drink, placing the empty glass back onto the counter. "I'll go and find Oriana, meet you back here in two hours?"

"Sure," They began walking, heading for the door. "I've got a couple of things to do as well."

They shared a quick kiss before Miranda left, giving him a small wave as she turned into the elevator. John headed back into his flat, moving through the downstairs towards the lounge. Passing the poker table he walked over to his private terminal, locating the contact of his mother.

He selected the call option, slightly nervous in doing so. He loved his mother very much, the two had been especially close after the death of his father. However, she was now an Admiral and he had undertaken many questionable decisions and actions since their last meeting, most notably the Bahak incident.

After a few seconds of dialling a voice crackled through his terminal, strict and commanding in tone.

"Rear-Admiral Shepard speaking."

"Hey mum." Shepard started nervously, unsure of what to make of her stern greeting. She was difficult to speak to if riled.

"John?" The harsh tone had immediately disappeared upon her realising who had called. "It's so good to hear from you."

"Thanks mum, it's great to hear from you too."

"Yeah," John didn't reply, realising she wanted to tell him something specific. "Do you remember when you were little, we used to make up those stories together."

John chuckled, remembering those days well. It had been a favourite past time of theirs when he was a child, something they would do every night before bed without fail.

"I remember."

His mother continued. "Well, you always wanted to be a hero, saving peoples lives, healing the sick that kind of thing."

John remembered that too, he had always wanted to help people, it was how he had been raised. Of course, he hadn't known at the time how difficult it was to be the hero. How not everyone could be saved.

"What I'm trying to say is," He could hear the emotion in his mother's voice now. "I'm so very proud of you John. Your father would have been proud too."

John smiled, glad that she supported him still. "Thanks mum."

"Also, I've sent something your way, directly to the Normandy. It should be there ready, for when you next dock."

"What is it?"

"A Surprise."

John furrowed his brows, it was an odd time for her to be sending him a present. Surely the supply chains were needed for more crucial shipments, he thought.

"Thanks, in advance."

"OK," His mothers voice changed in tone, turning to one of concern. "I heard about Sanctuary John, I can't believe what you did."

He sighed, clearly Liara had given a detailed, truthful account of his actions. That explained his mother's concern. "I had to get to her mum, I had to."

"I know, I won't lecture you on your stupidity. But still, three brutes?" She tutted at him down the line before continuing in a lighter tone. "I think she's worth it though."

He smiled, reminded of how he felt when he introduced the two women. She had expressed misgivings at every other girl that he had ever introduced her to, and she had always been correct. They all had possessed ulterior motives, not really caring for him that much. Miranda had been the first that she had accepted, and that made John infinitely pleased.

"Miranda's worth it, I think she's the one."

He could hear the laughter in his mother's response. "So I'll be getting grandchildren soon then?"

"Mother!"

XXXXXXXX

John felt rather uncomfortable lounging on the sofa nearest his apartments door. He had never enjoyed wearing suits, particularly not dinner suits such as his current attire. He was a man of simpler tastes for most items, particularly for clothes. Still, he could be in a worse situation, there was a beautiful woman getting ready for him upstairs.

Miranda had returned an hour ago, hiding several bags behind her as she entered. Those bags had accompanied her upstairs about fifty minutes ago as she went to change into her own attire. He gathered that she had bought a dress for the occasion, he had never seen her wear anything other than her catsuits. And various undergarments, he thought with a smile. He was distracted from his memories by a cough from above, coming from the very woman that he was fantasising about. As he turned to look his breath caught in his throat.

Miranda was dressed in red, a deep crimson shade of the colour. The dress covered her legs, framing them and her hips perfectly. Her toned stomach and upper chest were exposed, a criss-cross pattern of fabric covering her belly button and cleavage. His eyes wandered to her breasts, shaped perfectly underneath the cloth. Her upper arms were also exposed, a break in between the shoulders of the dress and the long gloves that ran to her elbows. She was descending the staircase, trailing one hand down the banister as she walked, appearing as a goddess before John.

She chuckled, noticing the direction of his stare. At the sound his eyes snapped up, meeting her own, beautiful cerulean eyes. She gave him a playful smirk.

"See anything you like commander?"

"Miranda," He was unable to think of what to say, there were no words that could describe her beauty entirely. "You look...incredible, beautiful."

She walked up to him, beaming at his praise. John knew that she was often leered at by other men, he hoped that she would understand his sincerity. Clearly she did, giving him a tender kiss as she drew near.

"Thank you John," She pulled back, offering him her right arm. He linked his left through, giving her a smile. "Shall we?"

Together they headed out into the hallway, fully intending to enjoy their time together whilst they still had chance.

**A/N So thanks for reading. Please review/comment sepecially anything that I can do to improve my writing. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Really enjoyed writing this one guys. Thanks again for all of your responses, they really encourage me to work on this.**

Chapter 6 – Ontarom

Shepard scanned the scene in front of him, analysing the situation.

They knew Cerberus were here, they were hacking into the comms network to disrupt the Alliance's operations. They also knew that there was a civilian present, Grace Sato. She was holed up in a control bunker, trying to hide from the Cerberus troopers. Shepard had hoped that they could perform the operation without needing her help, she would be in danger if they involved her. The compound was a mess of crates and walls, spread over different levels. Locating the devices manually would take too long, they had to ask her help.

"Grace?" Shepard spoke quietly, attempting to reassure the young girl. He supposed that she was in a similar situation to Oriana – young, scared, and out of her depth. Her response betrayed her nerves.

"Commander? Thank god your here."

"We'll get you out of here safely Grace. We just need to find these hacking devices."

"OK," There was a pause, then a bleep on Shepard's omni-tool. "I've sent the location of the first one."

"Thankyou Grace."

He checked his HUD, seeing a pin-point where the device was situated. He then gestured towards his squadmates, James and Javik, to move forward on his flanks. He had opted to take these two as he required close range, brute force within the tight confines of the battleground. Liara, Ashley, and Garrus were in the Normandy's shuttle bay, ready to provide fire support if needed.

They had taken only a few steps when contact was made with the enemy, a centurion, descending a ladder in front of them. All three of the squad were prepared, experienced at dealing with Cerberus' troopers by now. Five shots from Shepard's Mattock with inferno rounds – his Revenant was still being repaired – and a shotgun blast from James shorted the soldiers shields out, causing the centurion to recoil as electricity danced across his armour. A violent slam from Javik propelled the centurion over the railings to their left, landing with a sickening crunch on the land below the raised compound.

They moved up, ascending the ladder themselves. Shepard was first up and, unsurprisingly, came under a barrage of heavy fire himself. Diving behind a protruding section of wall he called a warning out to his team mates, preparing them to take cover at the top. Both complied, partaking in similar actions to Shepard's own.

There was a lull in the fire, Shepard supposing that the Cerberus troopers were re-deploying. He poked his head out of cover, looking for the enemy. He saw six Cerberus soldiers, all moving up one gantry in front of them. Four of the men were standard assault troopers, moving forward in pairs on either side. They were being directed by another centurion, two paces behind them. A nemesis was also present, crouching behind a crate with her sniper resting on the top. John began to move back into cover when something else caught his eye, a small laptop was placed on top of the crate. Checking his HUD he saw that it coincided with Grace's co-ordinates. It was the first hacking device.

"Guys, the first device is just in front of the nemesis. We need to deal with these troopers first though," Shepard paused for a moment, giving thought to the enemies positions. "Javik, get a lift grenade in the middle of the assault troopers, James hit the centurion with a carnage blast."

His orders were acknowledged immediately, both squad mates complying. Javik stood up, removing a grenade from his belt. He threw it perfectly, bouncing once a metre away from the troopers and then again right in the middle of the four. On the second bounce it exploded.

John had to admit, it was an impressive strike. All four soldiers were hurled up into the air, taking significant shrapnel damage in the process. They were suspended in the air for just under a second, forming a kind of square five metres from the ground. Then Javik struck out with his biotics, slamming all four back down with immense power. Shattering bones could be heard from their position, so could the unmistakable crunch of helmets being ripped apart. None of the soldiers moved again, Shepard noting how Javik's biotics were becoming increasingly powerful and violent over the months.

Less than a second after, James popped up to launch his carnage blast. The shot took the Cerberus sergeant in the chest, distorting his shields and causing him to stagger in the same manner as the first centurion earlier on. The soldier quickly regained his composure however, and rolled into cover behind a wall section. Shepard peered out of cover again, waiting patiently for the centurion to try moving. Sure enough he did, rolling out of cover and moving up quickly, the nemesis ready to provide fire support. John ignored the sniper for now, leaning out of cover to take aim. He fired a concussive round, modded with inferno rounds, straight at the enemy. The projectile was aimed perfectly, colliding with the centurion's helmet, exploding his head in a fountain of gore.

As the body hit the ground John moved out of cover, calling to the squad. "Move up, quickly. Rush the nemesis, she'll run out of cover."

Surely enough she did, the snipers were predictably unhappy with allowing the enemy too close. As the squad came within a few metres she made the mistake of running out of cover, moving straight into the line of fire. Shotgun and assault rifle rounds ripped her shields apart almost instantly, causing a great deal of physical injuries as well. As she staggered from the impacts, Shepard closed the distance, deploying his recently fixed omni-blade. He rammed it home, straight into her stomach. The blade easily shredded her already weakened body armour, killing the nemesis quickly.

"Nicely done Loco."

"Thanks James," He stood next to the crate, turning on his omni-tool. "I need to deal with this. Hold the perimeter guys, I can't do this whilst being shot."

"Understood commander." The Prothean replied whilst moving over to Shepard's right side, James moving to his left. Both squad mates took up defensive postures, James having switched to his Harrier battle rifle to allow better long range suppressing fire.

Shepard began to run a shut down program on his omni-tool, crouching down by the hacking device. He estimated that it would be about ten seconds for the program to complete, actually a long period of time if they came under fire. After two seconds there was a call from both of his comrades.

"Contact left Loco."

"They come from the right also."

Shepard mentally cursed. "Just hold them. Five more seconds."

His reply was the sound of gunfire as both James and Javik returned fire. Shepard was counting down the seconds, eyes on his omni-tool as he continued running the program. Four...Three...Two...One...

"Done!" Shepard heard a bleep from the laptop, signifying it's shut down. He spun around immediately, seeing the enemy forces arrayed against them. The enemy force was the same, this time accompanied by a pair of engineers and an extra nemesis. The compound they were in was very small, they couldn't afford to fight a long defence if Cerberus continued to land extra soldiers. They had to deal with the situation quickly.

"Grace?" He ducked down underneath a wall, speaking through the comms. "We've dealt with the first device, where's the second?"

There was a pause before the reply. "I've sent it to you, but please hurry. They're not far from finding me now."

"Don't worry Grace. We'll get this done." He broke off the channel, noting the position of the next device. It was on the other side of the compound, opposite to the shuttle drop point. Looking along the compound, Shepard could see several routes to their destination. That gave him an idea.

"Go left and underneath those walkways. Draw some fire but be careful, I'll go around the right side, de-activate the device without any attention. Hopefully."

"Got it Loco. C'mon Eyes, we've got bullets to take." James said the sentence with relish.

"I still do not find your nickname amusing human." Javik spoke with much disdain used to, but still not impressed with, the banter within the squad.

Shepard left the two, heading underneath the walkways initially but taking a sharp right. Two more assault troopers were positioned around the corner, clearly hoping to cut off this route to the device. John wasn't concerned however, instinctively slamming a concussive round into the closest trooper. He was thrown off his feet with a gaping hole in his chest, flames from the ammunition mod licking around the wound. The second trooper barely had time to react before coming under fire himself, a torrent of rounds pumping from Shepard's Mattock. He was dead in seconds. Moving around the support column for the walkways above, Shepard shook his head. He could never go anywhere without attracting attention from someone.

There was another ladder, taller than the first, ascending to the main level. As he reached the top John could see that it was empty, not one Cerberus trooper occupied it. Smiling at this rare gesture of luck, he began to move along the gangway, a concussive round readied. No one jumped out at him though, clearly Cerberus were pre-occupied with the diversion. As if to confirm his thoughts there was a huge bang, the sound of one of James' frag grenades exploding.

The walkway ended, becoming an open square with some waist high walls and one support tower in the middle. Circling the tower John found the second laptop, immediately crouching down and running a shut-down program.

"Shutting down the second device, give me another ten seconds."

"Roger that."

Shepard tapped his foot impatiently, he wasn't keen on being shot in his current position. He kept one eye on his armour's scanner, checking for any red blips that indicated nearby enemies. So far there were none.

He glanced back at his omni-tool, five seconds left. Then, the utterly predictable happened.

"Commander, they're spreading out. They must have noticed your absence."

Shepard cursed again. "Thanks Javik."

Three seconds...Two...

As the countdown reached one a red dot appeared on his right arm's omni-tool, a laser sight for a nemesis' sniper rifle. Shepard rotated, showing his back to the sniper. The shot impacted on his back, removing his shields in one go. He checked down to his omni-tool, he had been lucky. The program had managed to complete milliseconds before the shot collided, if it had of hit any earlier then the program would have terminated.

He moved back around the column, readying a grenade from his belt. He waited for a couple of seconds, allowing his shields to recharge. Then, John made his move. He dashed out of cover, looking back up to where the nemesis had been. She was still on the walkways under which he had passed earlier. The sniper had her laser trained on Shepard again, intent on bringing him down. He rolled to the left, throwing off the aim. As he came out of the roll he hurled the grenade at the Cerberus soldier, landing it perfectly behind her position. The explosion took out her shields, throwing her against the lower wall she stood behind. Then John finished her off, landing a concussive round at her head, painting the wall behind red.

"Loco," Shepard looked around, seeking his squad mates. Both were pinned down where he had left them, under fire from assault troopers. At least the engineers were down. "Any chance of a hand?"

"On my way." Shepard ran back to them, this time heading right through the middle ground of the compound. He removed another pair of grenades from his belt, having seen a supply dump near James. He moved straight behind the troopers, directly in the middle. He threw one grenade in each direction, taking out three troopers on his right and two on his left.

"Nice throw Lo.." Shepard cut James off straight away.

"Phantoms, behind you!"

John had only just noticed their approach, sneaking around a third path through the area. One was only a couple of metres behind the marine, making a stealthy approach. On John's call the marine turned, drawing and blasting away with his shotgun. He began taking steps backwards as he fired, putting space between himself and the close combat specialist.

Both Shepard and Javik moved up to help him, Shepard with a barrage of gunfire and Javik with a dark channel. The devastating combination of attacks killed the phantom, strange fumes being emitted from the corpse because of Javik's power. The second phantom advanced alone though, striking out at James. The soldier charged the marine, rapidly slashing with his sword. James managed to parry the first blow with his shotgun, but the second slipped past his guard. John saw the marine take the hit, bypassing his shields and directly tearing through his armour. James was thrown back, a look of agony over his face.

Shepard closed on the phantom, not in a position to allow James to be hurt even more. He fired six shots in short succession as he ran, depleting the barriers of his target. Before he could do any more damage however, the phantom was hoisted up into the air, surrounded by the blue haze of a biotic field. Javik was holding the soldier in place, a look of cold concentration on his face. Clearly the Prothean was becoming more attached to his crew members, despite his claims. Shepard raised his rifle, sending off yet another concussive round, this time taking the phantom in the head, propelling the body several metres, out of sight of the compound.

"James," Shepard jogged over to the wounded marine. "James, you OK?"

"Fuck me," The marine groaned, pulling himself up on the nearby wall. "I'll live. Maybe kill some more bastards before we leave."

"Commander," Javik walked over to them, reloading his rifle. "I suggest haste, Many more troops could be dropped off."

"Yeah," Shepard brought the comms online. "Grace, we need the location of the third device. We can get you then."

There was no reply. Shepard was concerned immediately, had they taken too long? He wouldn't be able to stand the thought of causing another civilians death. She had to be alive.

"Grace? Are you there?"

He heard a sniffle on the comms, she was there. He knew that she must be terrified, but if he could get her to help them one last time, they could do this.

"Look, I know your scared. I understand. But if you can help us with this last device," He saw motion in his peripheral vision, more Cerberus troopers were being deployed. "You can save a lot of people."

He heard only the smallest of whispers. "They're right outside the door."

"OK."

His omni-tool bleeped. "I've sent the co-ordinates."

"Thankyou Grace." Now he just had to get them all out alive.

"Commander," Cortez's voice chimed in. "I can take the other team and extract Ms Sato. We can be back to pick you up."

"Brilliant," That strategy might just work, he thought. "Do it. Team, move!"

Looking at the location of the third device, he could see that it was up on the walkways, where he had killed the nemesis earlier on. They could pass where the phantoms had come from and turn right, allowing them access onto the walkways.

They ran quickly, observing more troopers moving through the lower part of the compound. Turning right he moved up a ramp, heading undercover. The device was right in front of them, barely ten metres away on a circular column in the next room. He gestured for them to slow their pace, they had no idea whether there were Cerberus soldiers on the other side of the room.

Their cautious approach paid off, a phantom rushing around to their right as they entered the room. If they had of sprinted in then it would have been likely that one of them would be dead. Instead all three of them took a step backwards, hurling gunfire, biotics, and various special blasts at the combat specialist. Shepard began the hack, noting an updated security system on this device.

"This one will take longer, about fifteen seconds. They have a better firewall around it," He crouched down next to the device. "James, go around the column, hold position there. Javik, watch my back. If you think your getting swarmed then I'll stop to help, but that means restarting the hack."

"Got it." James moved around to the right, taking up his position.

"Moving into position." Javik stepped behind Shepard, standing behind a wall for cover.

After three seconds gunfire could be heard, the sounds came from around the other side of the column. Clearly James was in combat.

"James, you OK?"

"Yeah," The marine sounded a little out of breath. "They're coming in hard, but I have them at a choke point."

"OK."

Ten seconds left. Javik could be heard firing his assault rifle.

"Commander, head further around the column. Your in the line of fire of a nemesis."

Shepard complied, shuffling awkwardly whilst still typing into his omni-tool. True to Javik's words a sniper shot impacted the wall just where he had been.

Seven seconds.

"Loco, phantoms are on their way up, I'm out of grenades, I could really use some."

Shit. Shepard thought fast, there was no way James could hold of a group of them on his own without explosives, especially as he was injured. John did have an idea though.

"James, run back round to me. I have a pair left," Shepard glanced at his suits scanner, the enemy were closing fast. "Fucking move it marine!"

James appeared almost instantaneously, reloading his shotgun as he ran. He dropped down to Shepard, grabbing both grenades from his belt. Giving him a nod James ran off, an explosion shaking the building a second later.

Four seconds.

"Commander, they are moving up quickly. More centurions are deploying."

Again Shepard cursed. This was why he always brought more than two squad mates, you had to have enough supporting fire available for every situation.

"Just do your best Javik." A second explosion went off, clearly James had exhausted the grenades.

"Phantoms down." Finally some good news for them, thought John.

Two seconds.

"Another shuttle, there are Cerberus forces behind you commander." Javik's warning came as the count down reached one, Shepard readying himself to launch straight into combat as it finished.

The program finished, surprising John that he hadn't needed to restart it. He spun around, jerking upright with his Mattock in hand. He was greeted by a sword, aimed right for his head. He managed to avoid the kill thrust, his trained reflexes saving his life once more. Instead he took a, still rather painful, cut to the right side of his neck. It bit deep enough to cause him to grunt in pain, not deep enough to cause serious blood loss however. In response to the strike he lashed out with his right elbow, shoving the phantom back a few paces without dealing any true damage. This action did buy him some time, however, allowing him to raise his rifle to face the enemy. A series of close range headshots annihilated the trooper, his brain tissue decorating the upper sections of the Cerberus issue armour.

"Hell Loco, they're bugging out!"

John jogged around the column to the viewing section, giving him a sight of the back half of the compound. James was right, the remaining soldiers had given up the fight, fleeing to the open space by the second device for shuttle extraction. Clearly Cerberus wasn't wanting to waste men on lost causes.

"I just finished disabling the last device. They obviously don't want a higher body count."

Javik came to his side, holstering his weapon. "Maybe they have limited amounts of soldiers left. We have taken a heavy toll on their numbers recently."

James came to stand by them, offering his own opinion. "That or they are planning something, a big offensive. All the more reason to get to Chronos Station sooner rather than later."

Shepard thought over both of their comments in his mind, weighing them up. "It could be a combination of the two. Anyway, we can't really speculate. Cortez, what's the sitrep?"

There was a pause before the reply. "The team removed the Cerberus forces, Miss Sato is safely aboard the shuttle. We're heading back to you now."

Shepard smiled, feeling a small sense of satisfaction. For the first time in a long while something had gone their way. There was still a hell of a lot to get done though.

XXXXXXXX

John let the hot water pour over his body, washing the soap lather off. He felt a small sting from his neck, the gash having sealed but still being rather raw. He picked up a small pot of medi-gel from his basin, rubbing a small amount over the wound. On smaller injuries such as this one it was often better to use smaller quantities of the gel, copious amounts of it just sat on the surface of the cut without actually helping the healing process.

Putting the pot back down he turned the shower off, taking a towel from the shelf on the other side of the room. He wrapped it around his waist, taking another one to dry his torso. A small smile graced his lips as he took another look at the shelf, noting the various new items there. Bottles and pots of varying shapes and sizes were placed there, all neatly aligned in rows. There were lotions, cream, balms, and shampoos all belonging to Miranda. She had purchased them whilst on the Citadel along with sets of various clothing. The first time John had seen them all he had been confused, unsure of exactly why Miranda needed them. It was beyond him why such a naturally beautiful woman required these concoctions. She had told him quite simply that a girl required her comforts, something that he had never expected to hear from her.

His mindset had greatly improved with Miranda's presence, she always had a relaxing effect on him. They still hadn't had the talk that she had suggested. She knew not to push him, and truth be told he wasn't keen on revealing his true worries and concerns. He didn't want to just palm his problems off on to her, he wanted their relationship to be a blessing not a burden. He wasn't prepared to do that to her.

He opened the bathroom door, placing the second towel over the back of the office chair by his desk. Walking past it he reached the top of the stairs, stopping in his tracks as his eyes took in the sight on his bed. Miranda was lying on his bed, facing the wrong way with her feet on the pillows. Her elbows were on the mattress with her hands cupped underneath her chin, supporting her head. Looking at her attire he noticed yet another set of lingerie, she had mentioned that some of her purchases were for his benefit as well as hers. Both parts of her two-piece were coloured a very light powder blue, fine white lace decorations covering them. Her curves were accentuated, her voluptuous rear fighting with her enhanced cleavage for his eyes attention. He wasn't quite sure where to look, every aspect of her body screamed at his intense desire. She gave him a sultry smile, clearly intending to have such an effect on him.

"Are you just going to stand there staring commander?" She gave him an innocent look as she popped the question, enjoying his attention.

"Well..." Shepard began to walk down the stairs, the towel uncomfortable around his waist. He kept his eyes on her, intensely concentrating on her figure. She raised her feet into the air, wiggling her toes.

"Is that a stick under your towel, or are you just pleased to see me?" She delivered the age old line with the wink, the one that always drove him mad. Shepard stopped at the bottom of the stairs, cocking his head. She stayed on the bed, playing the waiting game.

"Shall we find out?" At that he dropped the towel, losing his last ounce of control, and diving towards her. Their lips collided in a storm of passion, losing themselves in one another.

**A/N Thanks for reading, feedback wanted as ever.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I was pretty sure that Leviathan would be a two chapter mission, turned out to be true. To let you know Ann Bryson is fine in my playthrough, I let James turn on the field straight away.**

**To clear up something from Chapter 5, the gift from Shepard's mother isn't on the Normandy yet. She said that it would be delivered the next time that the Normandy docks, and the Normandy will return to the Citadel for one final time before Chronos station. Sorry if that wasn't clear.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 7 – Leviathan Part 1

"This is even more dull than your scanning during the Collector mission John."

Shepard turned his head towards the Australian on his left. He gave a look of mock hurt to her as he replied.

"That's not fair, it was necessary and it was slightly entertaining. This time it is actually tricky." She rolled her eyes in reply at his protest.

"How could scanning for lifeforms be difficult?"

He gave her an incredulous look, she raised an eyebrow in response. "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

"It's actually dangerous to scan. The Reapers can track the scanner after a few goes, then they come and chase us out of the system. The last time that happened Joker had to pull some insane manoeuvres to escape, Boo was sick for days afterwards!"

A laugh to their right interrupted the banter, both turning to see Comm Specialist Traynor doubled over laughing.

"Specialist?"

"Sorry commander," She managed to stop her laughing for a minute. "I just find the fact that you were more concerned about the hamster than anything else quite funny."

"One day you'll find yourself some hamster like Boo," He gave her a look of utmost seriousness as he spoke. "Then you will understand."

There was silence for a couple of seconds, then both the Comm Specialist and Miranda burst out laughing, drawing looks from the rest of the CIC crew. Shepard shook his head at their disregard for Boo and turned back to the Galaxy Map, watching the display.

They had been searching various systems for Leviathan for the past few hours, scanning planets for the signal that EDI had traced from Ann Bryson. They had been to several systems, and their current one had to host the Reaper killer. It was just a matter of finding the planet. He ordered the Normandy to move into position over the second planet in the system, a watery world called Despoina.

A few minutes passed as the Normandy flew to her destination, Shepard checking his mail as he waited. There was an e-mail from Grace Sato whom they had rescued from Ontarom two days previously, she had received a posting to an Alliance fleet and was enjoying the position. Shepard smiled at that. He could also hear Miranda and Traynor talking, now in a serious discussion about the Normandy's retrofits.

EDI's voice came over the speakers. "Commander, we are now in orbit over Despoina."

"Thanks EDI," He walked back up to his command pulpit, initiating the scanner. A few seconds later there was a bleep, a red circle appearing around the planet on the Galaxy Map. "Brilliant."

His speech stopped both of the women from talking, both of them with questioning looks on their faces. Shepard leaned forward, pressing the switch for a ship wide address.

"All crew, we have located Leviathan. We're going down now, all hands report to stations, this could be messy. Liara, Garrus, and EDI, meet me in the hanger in ten minutes. We're going down." He shut off the comms, stepping down from the pulpit and giving Traynor a nod. She smiled happily, clearly enjoying his brighter mood. He had to admit that he felt a lot better than he had done for a long time. He walked towards the elevator, Miranda falling into step beside him.

"I'm going down there with you John, no arguments."

As the elevator doors shut he selected the commanders cabin before replying to her. "Do you have the all clear from Doc?"

"What?" She spoke in exasperation, clearly surprised at his question. "You sustained far worse injuries than me and you've already been on another mission. I'm fine and I'm coming with you."

He sighed, lowering his head. "I just want to make sure your OK before being put in harms way again."

She touched his arm, giving him a soft smile. "Thank you for your concern John, but honestly, I want to come with you."

The doors opened, both of them stepping out and towards the doors to the cabin. "OK then. Do you need armour?"

She rolled her eyes, giving him another look as he crouched to remove his armour from the locker next to his desk. "Since when have I ever worn armour?" She took a few steps towards him, a grin on her face. "Besides, I thought you preferred the catsuit."

John looked up at her, a grin on his face as well. "Damn right I do."

XXXXXXXX

"So, do we know what to expect? Any thing at all?" Miranda voiced her question, sitting next to John. He closed his eyes, recalling all they learnt so far.

"We know that it killed a Reaper that the Batarian's found a couple of decades ago. It can take control of people for long periods of time and isn't keen on being found by anyone."

"And whenever we have sought it, the Reapers have arrived. Clearly they are seeking it too," EDI brought up her omni-tool as she spoke, showing an image to Miranda. "These are some pictures of artwork we found at Ann Bryson's dig site. As you can see the natives appear to be worshipping something that looks like a Reaper."

"My God," Miranda peered closer at the picture. "Is it a rogue one?"

"We cannot be sure, though we will find out soon enough." EDI closed her omni-tool.

"Commander," Cortez called from the cockpit. "This is strange. The probe is reporting it's position."

Shepard stood up, moving into the cockpit. "What's strange about that?"

"It's three and a half thousand feet under the water."

"Ah." That did make it difficult for them. Was Leviathan living under the water to prevent being found?

"We'll have to..."

Cortez was cut off by a bang, warning lights flaring up all over the cockpit. Shepard was thrown from his feet, tumbling back into Miranda as the shuttle plummeted towards the ground. Cortez's hands danced over the controls in front of him, desperately trying to keep the shuttle in the air. Shepard struggled up, attempting to get off Miranda's lap. He would normally have been happy with his current position, but the imminent threat to his life put the thoughts out of his mind.

"What's going on?" He had to shout over the whining of the wind rushing across the shuttles outside.

"Some kind of EMP," Cortez was shouting, sounding out of breath as he wrestled with the controls. "All systems are off line, I'm trying to land us onto something. There seems to be large pieces of debris floating on the surface. Hang on."

The G-forces in the shuttle were immense, holding everyone in their seats. Shepard was still being pressed into Miranda, Garrus cracking a joke even in their current position.

"I see the couple is enjoying themselves."

"Now is really not the time Garrus." The rebuke came from Liara, not Miranda, and contained a trace of hysteria. She was desperately clutching the handles of her seat, knuckles turning a pale blue with the attempt.

"We're landing in five seconds, brace everyone." Cortez shouted at them from the cockpit.

John heard a mutter from Miranda, the only person except for EDI with any calmness left in the shuttle. "More like bloody crashing in five seconds."

Shepard was about to reply, but he was cut off by an immense bang. The shuttle skidded along for a few seconds, staggering everyone inside. It then came to a halt in absolute silence, no one daring to move. Cortez broke the silence with a sigh.

"That was fun." The sarcasm dripped from the pilot's sentence.

Shepard untangled himself from Miranda with great difficulty, pretty sure that she gave him a playful slap in a rather inappropriate place. He looked at her with narrow eyes, receiving an innocent smile in return. Shaking his head at her unusual display of non-professionalism he moved into the cockpit, taking a look out of the viewing port.

"Where the hell are we Cortez?"

"Like I said, I aimed to land us on some large debris pieces. I was moderately successful." The pilot disappeared under the desk in front, rooting in compartments for tools. Shepard, meanwhile, realised that the pilot was right. They were not on solid ground but on, not big, but humongous slabs of metal.

"Should I call in the Normandy?"

"No way, the same thing will happen, we'd never get her up again," The pilot returned from under the desk, various instruments and tools in his arms. "All of this debris is from ships who have received the same treatment. Some of them are ancient."

Shepard had to agree, there were some unusual designs amongst the wreckage. He supposed that it was like the debris field around the Collector base, the remains of generations of travellers that had attempted to travel into the unknown.

"Maybe Leviathan did this, a defence mechanism of some sort."

"More than likely," The pilot began running a systems analysis on his omni-tool, placing the tools carefully on the floor. "I can probably get the shuttle up and running again, but it'll take time. Maybe you should check around the place, gain some insight as to what happened."

"Good plan," Shepard clapped Cortez on the shoulder before walking out, seeing that the team had sorted themselves out and were readying weapons. "We're gonna take a look outside whilst Cortez fixes the shuttle, Let's go."

Garrus opened the hatch on the shuttle, moving out with his Kyrasae drawn and loaded. John removed his repaired Revenant from his back, selecting the inferno ammunition mod, and moving out to join his Turian friend.

"It's quiet, too quiet." John had to agree with Garrus' words, there had to be something out there.

"Just keep your eyes sharp."

They walked away from the shuttle, moving warily. The floor beneath them was unsteady, the debris shifting with the immense waves crashing against it. Looking into the distance John could see that this wasn't the only victim of that defence mechanism, there had to be hundreds of crashed ships stretching out as far as the eye could see. He turned his attention to the hull they were on.

There were many raised and lowered areas on the ships hull, ribs of the hull providing waist high cover at various intervals. Shepard also noticed that someone had set up shelters, canvas like material spread between posts to create little square huts in the lowered sections of the hull. John walked up to one, peering inside the open side.

It was clear that people had survived crashes before, the little shelters looked like homes. Various items were strewn around, small beds formed on top of crates. Next to one was a data-pad, detailing the logs of whoever was trapped here. He heard his name called, Miranda looking in the next shelter along. He walked over to her, seeing what she was staring at.

There was a body, lying on another makeshift bed. The corpse had decayed, clearly having been there for a while. Another data-pad lay on a crate next to the bed. Miranda approached the body but Shepard stopped her, placing his arm in front of her. He used his other arm to point to an object that had caught his eye.

"Don't go any closer, you have to stay away from those orbs."

Miranda eyed the orb suspiciously, clearly unsure of what it could do. "You've seen them before?"

"That's what Leviathan uses to control people."

"Ah. I guess we know what happened to these people then." She shook her head and turned around, walking away from the body. John moved away as well, following her at first but then moving off on his own. Some other items had caught his eye.

"Look at all of this loot!" The others turned at the sound of his enthusiastic voice. He moved around, collecting various weapons mods and armour parts that were randomly scattered about.

"I haven't seen you this enthusiastic about loot for a long time Shepard," Garrus was shaking his head, clearly amused. "Clearly Miranda makes all of the difference." All of the squad laughed at this, all of them except John. He refrained from laughing, knowing that Garrus had unintentionally hit the nail on the head.

Miranda noticed his silence, ceasing her laughter with a look of concern. She took the initiative, moving the squad onwards. "We should probably move Shepard." He nodded his assent, walking onwards.

Walking for another thirty metres or so they saw more dead bodies, accompanied by more of the orbs. Other than this there was no sign of current life, no sign of Leviathan either. Miranda stopped though, cocking her head as if listening intently. John stopped as well, he knew that she had far superior hearing.

"What is it?" By now the others had taken notice, all scanning the debris, sea, and sky around them.

Miranda looked up, staring directly at the clouds above them. Shepard followed her gaze, unable to make anything out.

"There's something up there, sounded like a deep booming sound." It had to be a Reaper, that would fit with her description. At first he wondered why she hadn't come out with that initially, but then he remembered that she had never faced a full Reaper as they all had. His musing was interrupted by the very same noise, loud enough for them all to hear.

"I heard it too, sounds like a Reaper." The rest of the squad tensed at his words, readying themselves for a fight. Then, out of the clouds, the familiar silhouette of a Reaper appeared. It screamed it's call at them, before launching what fireball like pods towards the ground.

"It's unloading troops, we have to protect the shuttle." Liara's call was frantic but true, they had to give Cortez the time to repair.

"She's right. Spread out and make a line of fire. Garrus, find a perch." They all sprung into action, hurling themselves behind cover as the Reaper forces made planetfall. Shepard found himself behind a waist high wall next to Miranda, giving her a grin.

"Fancy meeting you here Miss Lawson." He popped out of cover to shoot at the first enemy in sight, slamming a concussive round into a cannibal's chest. The marauder next to it charged forwards, but was staggered as Miranda's EMP shorted out it's shields. Moving back behind cover, she gave him a quick glance.

"Yes we do seem to meet in these wonderful places," Both of them leaned out of cover again, dealing more damage to the newly arriving Reaper forces. Moving back into cover she spoke again, this time serious. "Are you OK?"

Shepard moved out once more, firing on full auto at a pair of cannibals. Both went down to the sheer amount of fire from his machine gun. A third cannibal was incinerated from Miranda's omni-tool, a new attack that he hadn't seen from her before.

"That's new," He remarked on her tech power. "And why would I not be OK?"

She waited in cover, replying as she typed into her omni-tool to recharge the blast. "I learnt a few new tricks over the months. And I meant about what Garrus said."

"It's fine. Though maybe slightly true," He gave her a wry smile before turning serious again. "We need to move up though." She nodded her agreement.

He looked around, seeing another wall six or seven metres ahead. He gestured to it, Miranda understanding his meaning. They both vaulted over the wall, perfectly in time with one another, and then sprinted towards the second wall, sliding into cover behind it.

Miranda gave him another look, this time soft. "I'm touched that I mean that much to you." He stared directly back into her eyes, replying with utmost sincerity.

"You mean everything to me Miranda," He popped up again, hurling a grenade at a cluster of three cannibal's and a marauder, only managing to wound the latter. He didn't have to worry about finishing him off though, a sniper round from Garrus removing the ex-Turian's head. He crouched back down again, speaking through the comms. "EDI, Liara. Move up on our flanks. Garrus, if you need to re-deploy then do it."

He received a chorus of affirmations before Miranda spoke again. "Thank you John, I feel the same."

"Well this is very romantic Miri, I can't think of a more enjoyable way to spend time together," They both stood up, firing in unison at the enemies arrayed in front of them. After they stopped to reload only two enemies still remained, closely packed to the right of the line of fire. Both were annihilated by a mass reactive round, launched from Garrus' Kyrasae. The miniature explosion was grisly. "God I've missed our little trio."

His sentiments were true, he had missed fighting with Miranda and Garrus. On the SR-1 Garrus and Shepard had been a brutal tag-team duo, the Turian able to thin ranks at long range whilst Shepard could finish off the enemy at close quarters. Any others who joined them on missions were welcome additions, but not at quite the same level as the pair. On the SR-2, however, Miranda had proved to fit perfectly, able to provide accurate fire and lots of supporting biotic and tech powers. By the end of the Collector mission they could work in perfect harmony, fighting instinctively as one. It had been the three of them who had faced down the human Reaper larvae in the Collector base, a feat that no other team could have accomplished.

Miranda chuckled to his right, actually enjoying a fire fight for the first time in months. "I agree."

"Commander," He heard Cortez's voice over the comms. "I've nearly finished the repairs, I can give you fire support then."

"Good," Shepard leaned out of cover to see a brute landing. "Really good. Team, form up. We need to go on the offensive." Within three seconds EDI was to his right with Liara on Miranda's left. Garrus formed up behind them.

John counted down to three, all of them preparing themselves. On one he jumped up, vaulting over the barricade. Miranda followed him as did the others, all launching projectiles towards the enemy.

The brute roared it's defiance, but it never really had much of a chance. Two warps smashed into it's chest, ripping apart the armour there. It took a pair of concussive rounds and an incineration blast from EDI to finish it off, ripping apart what remained of it's lower torso. Shepard was impressed with the attacks, he hadn't needed to order any of the biotic or tech powers. Again he was struck by the ability and resourcefulness of his squad.

They passed the twitching corpse of the brute, reaching a narrower part of the hull. Still blasting away at Reaper troops he heard a whining sound, getting louder as it approached.

"I'm up commander, providing fire support now." The whining noise reached a crescendo as the shuttle appeared near them. The cannons began tracking left and right, annihilating the enemies in Cortez's sights. He kept this up for several seconds, removing all nearby Reaper forces and giving the squad some breathing space. Shepard was about to congratulate the pilot, when the unthinkable happened.

A loud crack sounded, followed by a purple wave sweeping across the surrounding area. Shepard's omni-tool sparked in the wave, but that was the least of their worries. Sparks also flew from the shuttles engines that were no longer emitting any noises at all. The shuttle pitched over, barrelling to one side and striking a mast that fell over to bridge a nearby gap. It flew for another thirty or so metes before landing in a controlled crash in front of them. Cortez emerged from the shuttle with an avenger assault rifle, firing in controlled bursts at the Reaper troops who were approaching the crash zone.

"We need to reach him, now!" The squad moved on Shepard's order, not stopping to engage the enemy. Instead they sprinted towards the shuttle, turning around and forming a defensive cordon around the pilot and his craft. "You OK Steve?"

"Fine commander."

"OK. We're clearly never going to get off here without finding Leviathan first. We need a way down into the sea." Shepard glanced around, looking for something. His squad had finished off the enemy troops, gaining a temporary break.

"What about that commander?" Shepard followed the pilot's pointed finger to the left, seeing an ATLAS walker behind reinforced glass.

"I guess it could work, how do we bypass that glass?"

The pilot thought for a second, before lighting up with an idea. "I recognise this ship hull, it's an old design but I know it. There should be external power ports for emergency repairs, we could use the power cells from the shuttle to activate the external generators. There may be enough power to open the glass."

"Do it. I'll get the cells to the outlets, the rest of the squad can hold off any enemies."

Cortez disappeared into the shuttle, returning with a cylindrical object a few seconds later. Shepard grabbed it and ran towards the nearest port on his HUD, seeing Reaper troops moving in his peripheral vision. He ignored them, trusting his squad to provide suppressing fire. As he ran the enemies around him were thrown down, receiving attacks from his squadmates. One was slammed into a column by Miranda, another one rolling over from a particularly vicious sniper round from Garrus.

Shepard reached the nearest power outlet, inserting the power device. A metre placed on his HUD by EDI began to register power, increasing up until forty six percent. The value stayed consistent for a few seconds before beginning to drop again, he realised that he had to be quick. John ran back to the shuttle, repeating the process three more times before the glass would raise.

Seeing more brutes arrive, Shepard decided not to waste any time. He ran up to the ATLAS, climbing into it. John didn't really enjoy war, but he had to admit that using an ATLAS had some entertaining features. He powered up the lumbering walker, taking a stride out of the hold. He lowered the rocket arm, aiming it towards a brute who was closing on EDI and Miranda. One squeeze on the trigger and the brute exploded, the powerful homing missile taking it out in a single shot. The rest of the Reaper forces soon followed, no match for the power that he now possessed.

Cortez waved him over, calling through the comm. "If your going to dive then I need to check it over first."

Shepard walked it over to him, popping up the hatch and jumping out. He stood watching Cortez and EDI check over the walker. Miranda walked over to him, Liara and Garrus in tow. She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Your not planning to do what I think your planning to do?" Miranda asked in a neutral tone, keeping her voice steady.

"It's the only way."

"You can't be serious John, you have no idea what's down there." For the first time he heard a trace of fear in her voice.

"I agree Shepard, it's too risky." Liara's voice was almost as concerned.

"We won't get off here without stopping this EMP. Clearly this is from Leviathan, I have to go down there and you know guys. Just hold the shuttle."

Cortez stepped back, shutting down his omni-tool. "It's as ready as I can make it."

"OK." Shepard made to move, a light touch on his arm stopping him. Miranda stepped closer, giving him a tender kiss on the lips. He pulled back, staring at her.

"Be careful John."

"I'll try." With that he clambered up the leg of the ATLAS, pulling himself into the cockpit. He closed the roof hatch and turned on all the systems. Cortez's voice came through the headset.

"Can you hear me commander?"

"Loud and clear."

"Then good luck." Shepard nodded and turned towards the water, walking directly to the edge of the hull. He took a deep breath and nudged the ATLAS forward, plunging into the unknown.

**A/N Thanks for reading, please comment and review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Just to let you know, I haven't put in the conversation with Leviathan. This is because it is a very long convesation that I would have not changed at all and I didn't want to just be writing out the canon stuff for ages. **

**Again, thanks for all your responses guys.**

Chapter – 8 Leviathan Part 2

The ATLAS descended into the darkness of the water, falling away from all traces of light. Shepard couldn't see anything in any direction, the lamp on the walker's shoulder hardly able to penetrate the murky depths. He kept one eye on the altitude metre, keeping his other on the scanning equipment. He had the signal from the probe but nothing else, having lost contact with the squad on the surface after passing several hundred metres of depth. He was on his own now.

"I have reached two thousand metres and am still descending." He said this just in case the squad could hear him, and also to break the silence. Ever since his death over Alchera John had hated silence, reminding himself of the suffocating vacuum of space.

He sighed, sitting patiently in the ATLAS as he descended. He began drumming his fingers on the control desk, in a rough rhythm of one of the songs belonging to the twentieth century band "The Rolling Stones." John had never been much of a musician, but he did appreciate their skills. He was particularly interested in rock from the later part of the twentieth century, a taste derived from his parents. He made a mental note to download some of his songs to his omni-tool, specially for quiet occasions such as this.

He sat there for another ten minutes, noting every two hundred and fifty metre drop over the comm. Then John sat bolt upright, seeing something in the distance on the sea-bed. He could see various shapes, presumably rock formations, just below him. The strange thing was that they were actually visible, despite the fact that it should have been pitch black at this immense depth. There was an eerie glow lightly illuminating the area, giving view to the barren landscape.

An alert sounded on the desk in front of him, indicating the rapidly approaching sea-bed. John readied the ATLAS for touchdown, bracing himself for the impact. The touchdown was surprisingly light, the walker's modifications allowing it to move in the high pressure environment. The searchlight of the walker was not so well adapted for the pressure however, shattering and blinking out. This left John without any light to search by, the glow not being quite strong enough on it's own. He had an idea though, letting off a missile to a spot several metres in front. It lit up the area, allowing John to see where he was going. He began to walk the machine forwards, heading for the probes signal.

He moved the walker on for several minutes, letting off rockets occasionally to light the way. There were a few drops in altitude, but nothing more than four or five metres. Then John turned a corner, halting the ATLAS as he checked the scanner.

According to the scanner he was directly on top of the probes signal, but it was nowhere in sight. In front of him, however, was another drop, this time into a chasm of sorts. The drop looked no more than a hundred or so metres, in theory manageable for the old walker he was piloting. It was already suffering under the extreme environment though, various systems shutting down to conserve power that would be needed to get back to the surface. He had no idea whether he would be able to get back but he had no choice except to go on. Maybe he could convince Leviathan to help him.

He walked the ATLAS forwards, plunging off the last drop. "I have reached what looked like the last drop. I will be at the probes position shortly."

As the walker descended Shepard noted that he was actually dropping into a chamber, his mouth agape at the sight before him. The place was incredible, an enchanting yet haunting landscape. Rock formations were arrayed around him, stretching both upwards and downwards like jagged columns holding the ceiling of the chamber in position. Various other platforms, like the one he was on, were visible in the distance, giving the impression that the chamber once had a single floor that had been torn apart. John could see the eerie glow emitted from several different points ahead of him, casting shadows all around. There was still no sign of anything that could be Leviathan.

Hitting the ground, Shepard began to move the ATLAS forward immediately, intent on getting out of this place as quickly as possible. In front of him was the probe, emitting a red flashing light from it's visible end. John passed it and walked onwards, nearing the end of the platform he was stood on. As he reached it there was a shaking, the surroundings trembling and rattling the cockpit. Then something appeared, shooting up out of the darkness in front if him. Shepard found himself speechless yet again, staring at the sight in front of him.

The thing that appeared was a creature, there was no doubt about it. It was incredibly large, at least fifty metres in height as it came fully into view, and coloured a dark purples and grey. Gigantic horns protruded from it's head and it had a pair of ice-blue eyes, staring directly at Shepard. Tentacle like limbs hung from the back and bottom of it's body. He had met many aliens before without seeing them too differently from humans, but this thing was completely different, it was just too alien.

That was when realisation hit Shepard, the realisation of what the creatures could be. They had the identical, cuttlefish like, silhouette of the Reapers, a smaller organic version of them. Re-calling what EDI had once said about the Reapers structures, these things could well be what the Reapers were based upon. His musings were interrupted by the arrival of two more of the massive creatures, rising up out of the darkness like the first.

Then a deep voice sounded, one that he had heard before from various people whom Leviathan had possessed. "You have come too far."

XXXXXXXX

Miranda was fighting on two levels. On one she was fighting physically, alongside the rest of the squad against the Reaper troops that kept on landing on the debris field. They were still surrounding the shuttle, defending Cortez as he worked on repairs once more. The squad held the line, keeping the enemy at bay for now. They had enough ammunition at the moment, they were making full use of the biotic and tech powers that they possessed, but if John took too long then they would begin to run low.

That fight was by far the easiest for Miranda, however. The other fight was mental, her emotions raging internally. Miranda was scared, concerned for what was going on beneath them. They had no contact with John and they had no idea what was down there awaiting him. They even had no assurances that the ATLAS would survive the descent, for all Miranda knew the cockpit could have shattered killing John immediately. That was what scared Miranda more than anything else in the galaxy, losing one of the only two people she had ever cared about. Especially after all they had been through to return to one another, she couldn't lose him now.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of those nagging thoughts. Returning her mind to the battle in hand she noticed a brute, approaching them on their right side. Miranda had taken command of the squad, all of them happy to subject to her confident and experienced leadership. She called out a warning to the squad. "Brute on our right, target it with anti-armour fire-power."

"Engaging." Garrus' reply spoke for the entire squad. He was the first to attack, striking the brute with a sniper round to the head and wounding it severely. This was followed up by a warp from Liara and Miranda's own incineration blast, dropping the beast in intense flames. The squad then returned to weapons free, not needing Miranda to micro-manage all of their actions.

They kept up the hard defence for another ten minutes, the quantity of Reaper troops increasing steadily. The troops being sent were also harder to fight, more heavy troops such as brutes and marauders were being dropped rather than husks and cannibals.

"Out of sniper rounds, assault rifle rounds are in the shuttle but they are running low as well." Garrus' call was echoed by similar words from the other team mates, the intense suppressing fire requiring the squad to burn through a higher rate of ammo than usual.

"Do we have an extraction plan?" At Liara's words Miranda turned, giving the Asari an incredulous look.

"What do you mean?" She stopped talking to launch an overload at an advancing marauder. "We wait for Shepard get back, then we leave with him."

"Miranda, I appreciate that you have strong feelings for Shepard but..." Miranda cut her off.

"We wait for John," Her tone was harsh, using her cold 'Ice Queen' voice for the first time in many months. "Regardless, if he can't get that defence system offline then we can't go anywhere."

"Miss Lawson is correct Dr T'Soni," EDI chimed in, the synthetic in the process of taking out a pair of cannibals. "I suggest focusing on the enemy for now."

"We are EDI," Liara replied whilst letting off a singularity, trapping several Reaper troops in it. "Miranda I meant noth..." Liara trailed off, gazing past Miranda towards the sea. Miranda turned to follow her gaze, realising what she was staring at.

Bubbles formed in the water near the debris, becoming bigger in both size and quantity. Then, suddenly, John's ATLAS erupted out of the water, thrusters propelling it upwards. It landed on the edge of the hull, swaying where it stood, before the hatch popped open. At first Miranda was relieved, he had managed to return from the sea alive. Her relief then turned to horror at the sight of him falling out of the ATLAS and landing crumpled on the ground, not moving at all, before the walker itself fell backwards into the ocean.

"John!" Miranda called out to him but there was no response. She noticed a pair of brutes making their way to his prone form, there was no way he could fend them off. She vaulted over the cover in front of her, shouting orders as she ran towards him. "Covering fire now, I'll drag him back to the shuttle. Steve, grab the med-kits."

Miranda reached his body, rolling him over onto his back. She could see blood running from both his nose and ears, something that was never a good sign. There was no trace of any other injuries on his body, but she knew that there could be some internal injuries. As Miranda prepared to move him he opened his eyes, making a slight moan of pain. He couldn't get himself up however, seeming to have lost the strength of his limbs.

"Don't speak John, just let me move you," He complied, allowing her to place his arm around her shoulders. She stood up and began to walk, for once being thankful of her enhanced strength. He was still very heavy in his battle armour, however, and his legs dragged along the floor as she pulled him along. Then she noticed the pair of brutes approaching them, cursing their advances. "Ah, bloody hell. Come on John."

He made the effort to help, still looking incredibly worse for wear, but he did try to walk. Nevertheless there was no way that they would get past the brutes, and there was no way that Miranda would leave him behind. The squad had noticed their immediate peril but they could only provide limited fire support, otherwise risking the other Reaper troops breaking through to the shuttle.

She prepared to lower John and ready her biotics to try and defend him, when the strangest of things happened. The first brute continued it's advance, but the second stopped for a moment, as if confused. Then it surged forwards with one huge fist raised to strike, not them, but the first brute. It had the element of surprise, getting several pummelling strikes into the first brute before trapping it in a headlock. Although this was a shock to Miranda she didn't allow herself to freeze, seizing the initiative and rushing towards the shuttle with John.

She reached the defensive line, hauling John up the step to the shuttle. Cortez appeared to give her a hand, putting Shepard's other arm around his shoulders. Together they carried him into the shuttle, placing him carefully onto the floor.

"Here's the med-kit," The pilot handed her a first aid box, she took it and quickly delved inside. "It seems that the systems have come online, seeing as the enemy is in disarray I think that we should try to leave now."

Miranda didn't look up as she replied. "Yes, everyone the shuttle now. Maybe Leviathan is letting us go and helping us escape. Explains the Reaper troops fighting each other," She began running a diagnostic program on John, running her omni-tool over him. He was now fully awake but slightly disorientated, she had to push him back down when he tried to get up. "Stay still John."

The others embarked onto the shuttle, Garrus still firing until he shut the door. They felt the shuttle take off, slightly shaking as it flew. Cortez accelerated away quickly, but this time there was no EMP pulse. There was, however, a bigger problem.

"There's a Reaper in our flight path, I don't know if I can dodge it." Cortez's voice sounded strained, he had worked hard on this mission.

"Leviathan will sort it. I need to.." John made to get up again as he spoke weakly, Miranda pushing him back in place once more.

"John stay put, I don't know what injuries you have. Let me deal with this," She got up and moved to the cockpit, standing next to Cortez. "Just keep going, maybe this Leviathan is going to help us."

"Aye aye ma'am." She raised her eyebrows at his address but said nothing, allowing him to concentrate on the flying.

They flew closer, the behemoth rapidly increasing in size through the view screen. Miranda swallowed, unsure of what was going to happen. They were trusting themselves to something that only John had seen, something that they couldn't be sure would actually save them. They had no choice in the matter however.

As they came even closer to the Reaper it began to position itself, rushing on towards them. It emitted a scream, and began to open it's arms. The huge red orb in it's centre began to light up, signifying that the huge machine was targeting them. Miranda felt a hand slip into hers, she turned to see that Shepard had completely ignored her and was now in the cockpit. He was able to speak far more coherently than before.

"Fly past it, we'll be fine," His voice was surprisingly confident. She brushed her hand lightly across his face, removing the blood from underneath his nose and right ear. His own had removed the blood from underneath his left ear. "I'm fine, it was just the pressure. And Leviathan. I'll explain later."

Miranda turned her attention back to the Reaper in front of them. The orb at it's centre was practically crackling with energy, the legs around it braced for firing. It didn't fire however, instead there was another blast of purple light. This time it didn't effect the shuttle, just washing over it. The Reaper was affected though, the orb and other lights along it's form flickered and died. As the shuttle flew over the top the Reaper began to roll over, pitching straight down towards the sea. It simply dropped out of the sky, gaining speed as it fell. The machine landed on it's back, sending colossal waves away from it before beginning to sink into the depths and out of sight.

XXXXXXXX

Oriana rushed over to Miranda, giving her sister a tight hug. She could feel her younger twin slightly shaking. Her voice was muffled as she spoke, buried into Miranda's shoulder.

"Are you OK?" Oriana pulled back, Miranda placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine thankyou Ori." Her sister shook her head, clearly still a little bit in shock.

"It was horrible up here. We had no idea if you were alive or if you'd make it back. I thought you were going to die." She could hear the concern in Oriana's voice.

"Well I'm fine, honestly."

Oriana looked over to the med-bay, the windows were currently opaque. "What about Shepard?"

Miranda sighed. "He should be fine. The doctor is just giving him a head scan, that's why I can't be in there at the moment."

"Radiation danger?"

"Yep." Miranda sighed again. She had heard the exchange between John and Ann Bryson on the shuttle, but she still wasn't exactly sure what had happened in the deep. Whatever it was, it had caused Shepard to sink back into his brooding state that he had been in earlier on in the week, when she had first arrived.

Before either of them could speak again Shepard walked out of the med-bay, followed by Dr Chakwas. Miranda could hear the end off the conversation.

"Are you sure you won't come?"

"Yes commander," There was a trace of exasperation in the woman's voice. "I really need to stay here. I hope that you all enjoy yourselves though, you deserve it."

"Fine, but you better be there next time Doc, that's an order," Chakwas laughed as he turned to walk to the twins, speaking as he walked. "EDI, tell Jeff to head for the Citadel. Also tell the ground crew, Traynor, Cortez, and Jeff that I am having that party after all. Tell them to be there at the apartment at nineteen hundred Citadel time."

"Yes commander."

"Thankyou EDI," He stopped in front of them, taking a bowl of soup that Oriana had made. "Thanks Oriana, smells really good." He picked up a spoon, taking a gulp of the steamy broth.

"Are you OK John?" Miranda asked cautiously.

"Yeah, just some issues with the pressure. And Leviathan's weird mind stuff," He tailed off quickly, changing the subject. "Do you mind if I take this upstairs, I really need to lie down."

"Hey, that's fine. I'll come up with you now."

"No, it's fine. Honestly." He looked away from her as he spoke, unable to make eye contact with her. Concern flooded Miranda's mind instantly.

"No, it isn't fine. I'll see you later Ori."

"OK, glad your all fine though." Oriana gave them a small smile before walking off to her own quarters.

She put her hand on the small of John's back, the pair walking slowly towards the elevator. Miranda watched him carefully, he seemed completely out of focus, lost in thought. Waiting for the elevator she decided to try and coax a reaction out of him. She stuck her little finger into the soup and then placed it in her mouth seductively, licking off the tasty liquid. To her immense surprise this provoked no reaction whatsoever, he was still staring off into space. It was going to be a long couple of hours, she thought.

XXXXXXXX

Miranda lay next to John on the bed, propping her head up on her arm. She was still watching him intently, he had barely said anything in the past hour. She decided that enough was enough.

"What happened down there?" He swallowed before answering.

"I found out the truth."

It was a cryptic answer if she had ever heard one, what did he mean? "The truth about what John?"

"The Reapers." He sat bolt upright, staring dead ahead.

"Tell me." She spoke softly, caressing his arm as she did so.

He began to explain to her what had happened, Miranda listening intently. She took in his every word, from the fact they were the first to be harvested, to the fact that they once ruled the galaxy. He started off slowly, but once he began talking his voice became slightly stronger. Miranda didn't interrupt him, allowing him to get it all out in one go. After half an hour he had finished the tale, lying back down on the bed as he did so. She instinctively moved closer, draping herself along his side whilst putting a protective arm over his chest. His own arm moved around her shoulders slowly, drawing her closer. After a few minutes of silence she spoke.

"There's one thing I don't understand."

"What's that?"

"Well," She began to draw circles lazily on his chest. "If this intelligence they made betrayed them and created Harbinger, does this one intelligence control all of the Reapers? From what you have said in the past it seems as if each one is an individual, but from what Leviathan told you – it's as if it's one hyper advanced AI controlling them all."

"Does it make a difference?" He asked the question seriously, Miranda knew that he wanted any and every advantage he could possibly get.

"It could be the reason for how unified they are, how well co-ordinated the Reaper forces are. In addition, it could be a weak point," Her eyebrows furrowed, Miranda's mind racing around trying to see different views around the facts, trying to decipher the problem. "If you could find and destroy it then maybe it would paralyse the Reapers."

"Maybe that's what the crucible does," John cleared his throat. "Regardless, we don't have the time to scour the galaxy for an AI. We have to go on the current plan."

"I know," Miranda knew that it was impossible to deviate from their current plan, John was right that they didn't have the time. She decided to change the subject for his sake, to try and improve his mood. "So this party tomorrow?"

"Oh yeah," He reached over to his bedside cabinet, taking a sip from the glass of water there. "It was Joker's idea, after the whole clone incident. I said no initially, but now I think it's a good idea. Throw a huge party before the end of the universe."

"Don't say that John, please." She kissed his chest tenderly, rubbing a hand across his toned stomach.

"You know what I mean," He kissed her forehead. "Mind playing hostess?"

She chuckled. "I'd love to John."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N So here's the party from the Citadel DLC. I haven't written out the entire script, just my favourite scenes. **

**Incidentally, I was confused as to why the whole "Last night" romance scene was before Chronos Station rather than Earth. I have decided to move that scene to before Earth in my story, treating this chapter as the night before Chronos. I am not sure, however, whether I should write out a full sex scene for that chapter or just fade it out as I have been doing. I reckon I can write a good one in a romantic way rather than a lust filled kinkmeme (I don't want it to turn out like that). If any of you have strong feelings on this then please let me know on the comments, I'll do what the majority votes if enough people do respond. It's going to be chapter 13 or 14 by the way, Chronos Station will definately be at least a two parter.**

**Enjoy**

**16/05/2013 Minor edits made to Shepard/Miranda convesation at end.**

Chapter 9 – The Party

Miranda really wasn't very good at organising parties. She had been to many parties in her time at Cerberus, often undercover. Most of those, however, had been posh dinner parties, places for the rich and corrupt to deal whilst in a lavish environment. This party was different. It was a time for great friends to come together one last time, it was likely that not all of them would survive the next week.

She and Oriana were preparing the snacks for the evening, her younger twin insisting on having what she called "nibbles". Miranda struggled to get the hang of the food preparations though, not being exactly sure of what foods would be appropriate for such a party.

"Well what about sushi? I've seen that at many parties."

Oriana shook her head. "Think simpler Randa, they're coming for a good time with each other. They're not hear as food critics or rich businesses men."

"Well then," Miranda was getting quite irritated, not directly at Oriana, but at her own inability to get this right. "What about pies?"

"Yes!" Oriana nodded enthusiastically. "That's the perfect kind of thing, simple food. Things like cocktail sausages, salads, you know."

Miranda smiled, amused at her sister's enthusiasm. "Well then I'll make the salad, I can actually do that."

She walked over to the fridge, removing the bags of salad that were stored there. As she walked back she stopped, catching sight of John. He was sat at the bar in the back side of the living room, staring into space. He had been acting like this the last day, ever since the Leviathan mission. She could understand how it had spooked him, she would have found it incredibly disconcerting herself.

"John," She called out gently, amazed to get his attention straight away. "Do you want to give us a hand?"

"OK," He stood up slowly, stretching out his arms. Then he moved over to them, a small smile on his face. Miranda could see through the smile though. "What can I do to help?"

"Well," Oriana studied what they had already done. "You could make up some skewers."

"Sure," John walked around the counter, picking up the various ingredients that he needed. "Where's the chicken?"

"By Randa."

Miranda noticed the chicken in front of her on the counter. She was going to pass it to John, but he got there first. She felt strong arms snake around her, one resting on her waist whilst the other picked up the packaged meat. He pressed his lips to her neck, kissing her tenderly on the side of her throat. She smiled in pleasure, he knew all of her weak spots. There was a snicker behind them, both turning their heads to the sound.

"What is so funny Oriana?"

"You two," Oriana returned to slicing the fruit in front of her. "Your like a pair of lovesick teenagers, it's so cute."

At this Miranda turned red, not used to being teased like this. John laughed however, clearly not minding the banter. He replied to Oriana jokingly.

"I would never dare to call your sister cute Oriana."

"I'm sure you could get away with...anything with her." Miranda narrowed her eyes, hearing the suggestiveness in her sisters voice. Again John replied.

"I suppose she is kinda cute." At this Miranda gave him a biotic jab in the side, rewarded with a little yelp from John.

"I'm cute am I John?" Miranda put a slight purr in her voice, not over doing it because of Oriana's presence.

Her response was another kiss on the neck, followed by a cheeky pinch on her behind as he walked away from her. She laughed, despite her embarrassment she was enjoying herself. She was spending time with her two most cherished people. It had so far been truly one of her happiest days, despite what was on the immediate horizon.

She was brought out of her musings by a pinging sound, coming from behind her. Turning, she saw John opening up his omni-tool.

"Commander, sorry to disturb." Steve Cortez's voice came through the speakers.

"Don't worry, what's up?" She smiled, Shepard always made time for everyone.

"Well, some thing's arrived in the cargo bay," His tone was apprehensive. "You should probably take a look, it's quite amazing."

"Sure, I'll be there in now," He closed the comm channel, and shrugged. "I have no idea what it's about, but I'll go whilst I have time."

"OK," Miranda put down the salad in front of her and walked over to John. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a smouldering kiss before letting him go. "We'll get on with this. See you later."

"Yeah." He gave her a kiss in return before waving to Oriana and leaving the apartment for the docks.

XXXXXXXX

Walking into the shuttle bay Shepard could see James and Cortez standing in the middle, in front of a large box. Approaching it Shepard could see the Alliance logo stamped on the side, realising that this was probably what his mother sent him. The two turned their heads at his approach, Cortez with a data-pad in hand.

"Commander," Cortez handed him the data-pad as Shepard stopped in front of the box. "It's from the Oriziba, addressed to you..."

Shepard read the address on the pad before finishing Cortez's sentence with a smile. "And my lady friend. Textbook stuff from my mother."

He gave the data-pad back to Cortez before moving to the box, removing the top from it. Inside was an item, covered in foam padding for transport. James and Steve moved closer to his sides, peering into the box. John began removing the layers of packaging, eventually the top of the item becoming visible. He only had to see the very top of the item to know exactly what it was. Sharp intakes of breath could be heard from his companions.

"Is that what I think it is Loco?" James' voice was laden with awe.

"Yes." John replied, similarly in awe. He had never expected to see this again.

"I thought they were only in museums, and in the houses of the very rich." Steve's question was asked with a trace of wonder.

Shepard didn't reply, he was busy with all of the ideas whizzing around in his head. He had been thinking about the next couple of days ever since Miranda came on board, how these days could be their last. The party they were going to have was for everyone, but he wanted to do something special for just them, Miranda and John.

"James, can you do me a huge favour?" He turned to the bulky marine who nodded seriously. "I have made up my mind on the squad to go to Chronos, you are going to stay here with Garrus and Javik though."

The marine nodded, knowing that Shepard always chose his squads carefully. John continued to speak.

"Can you keep this hidden here, and then move it up to the Starboard Observation Lounge when we are there. I want to have a final evening with Miri, before Earth."

The marine smiled sympathetically, understanding Shepard's meaning. "This'll make it perfect Loco."

"Yeah," John smiled, placing the foam back on top. "Just keep it quiet guys."

"Mums the word commander." John turned and looked at his pilot, shaking his head very slowly.

"That was unbelievably poor Steve. But thank you," Shepard placed the lid back on top. "Now I believe there is a party starting in an hour, I'd hate to be late."

John had never thought that he would have seen that gramophone again.

XXXXXXXX

He walked over to the group on the mezzanine, noting who was present. Both of his Krogan guests, Grunt and Wrex, were standing alongside Javik and Zaeed. They appeared to be discussing the strengths of the different Krogan.

"So, out of interest," The gruff mercenary gestured with his hands, a cocky grin on his face. "Who would win out of you two?"

"I suppose that is a good question." John spoke to them whilst positioning himself comfortably on the railings between the Prothean and human.

"I am pure Krogan," Grunt raised his hands enthusiastically, trying to emphasise his point. "Of course I would win."

"Meh," Wrex was pretty relaxed as he replied, though John kept his wits about him. He didn't want the two to have it out in Anderson's flat. "This whelp is good, but he doesn't have the experience. Yet."

"Are you kidding? I could beat up this old man anyday." Grunt slapped his palms together, jumping in the air on the spot. Shepard groaned mentally, this action from Grunt usually proceeded a charge towards the enemy.

"Oh yeah?" Wrex's eyes narrowed, as he responded. He also moved closer to Grunt, angling himself defensively.

Shepard moved off the railing, about to intervene, when Grunt took a step towards Wrex and slammed his head into the older Krogan's head. Wrex stumbled back from the hit, shaking his head to clear the pain. He then stood back up and threw his own head back into Grunt's, now the younger Krogan was struggling from the hit. John decided that enough was enough and moved to intervene.

"Guys, cut it out," Both Krogan turned to look at him. "The apartment isn't actually mine and I don't have the time or money to buy new furniture."

"Relax Shepard," Wrex waved his hand dismissively at John as he spoke. "We're only mucking around."

"Yeah," Grunt smiled widely as he added his own defence. "But a party is only fun if someone ends up dead!"

Shepard shook his head as he walked off.

XXXXXXXX

Miranda walked away from the group, heading to the back of the flat. She was going to get a glass of water, wanting to pace herself that night. She wasn't keen on assaulting Chronos Station with a severe hangover. No one else seemed to care about this though, proving the increased stress levels caused by the war. Looking around, it was clear that the assortment of characters in the flat were intent on becoming as senselessly drunk as they possibly could be, regardless of the next mission.

Walking into the games room Miranda was greeted by a character that she had not been too happy on John inviting. In front of her stood Jack.

"Cheerleader." Jack's curt greeting was no longer an insult to her, now only being a minute annoyance.

Miranda walked past her and around to the other side of the counter, realising that there were no glasses there. Great, she thought, now I'm stuck in a conversation with Jack.

"Jack," She spoke in a neutral tone, the other biotic sitting down onto a bar stool opposite her. "I hear that your leading the Grissom Academy students."

"Yeah," Jack spoke in an indifferent tone, placing her arms onto the counter. "That a problem?"

Miranda sighed mentally. She didn't really want to fight with jack, not on this night of all nights. She kept herself neutral, not wanting to antagonise the violent woman.

"Just a surprise. Your psyche profile suggested that you were only interested in yourself." As she said it Miranda realised the implications of what she had said. She prepared for the aggressive response.

"Your telling me that I'm only interested in myself?" She laughed bitterly before continuing. "Oh that's just fucking perfect. Did it occur to you that maybe I'm trying to grow as a god damn person."

"Oh I could tell that you were growing. I assumed that it was whatever that is your wearing." The insult was petty and Miranda knew it, but she was becoming irritated with the other biotic now.

"Oh, these? They were strapped down with a leather belt before," Jack leaned back, flaunting the breasts in question. Miranda found this even pettier than her insult. "It's kind of a stupid move to show off your rack in a maximum security prison."

Miranda smiled sweetly at Jack, allowing some of her disdain of the woman to show through. "I never had the pleasure."

"You'd never survive," Jack leaned forwards once more, fixing a glare straight at Miranda. "You might break a nail."

Now Miranda was irritated, not just by how this conversation had degraded into school-yard childishness. She was mainly annoyed by the lack of respect towards her, Jack showed no appreciation of her abilities. Miranda did actually have some respect for the tattooed woman's abilities. She fixed her own glare whilst speaking.

"You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"Your a spoilt rich girl Cheerleader."

Miranda gestured in exasperation, Jack had no clue about her past. "Victim."

"Test tube clone princess..."

That was insulting to her, it took all of Miranda's patience to not leap over the counter and attack the woman. It was then that she noticed Shepard standing in the doorway next to them. She could see some anger in his eyes, he had never been tolerable of those kind of insults towards Miranda. She decided to answer neutrally once more, hoping that he would understand that stupidity behind the entire conversation. He didn't need the night spoilt by their childish behaviour.

"I think it's past your bed time."

Now Shepard did move forward, looking slightly calmer by Miranda's forced neutrality.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?"

"Ladies," Shepard's approach startled Jack slightly, she hadn't seen him arrive. "I see we've all gotten enough to drink." Miranda raised an eyebrow at this, she wasn't drunk at all and neither was Jack. Jack seemed to realise that she shouldn't insult Miranda in front of John, she did know something of their relationship.

"Relax Shepard, I'm not gonna smear the walls with her this time." Miranda snorted mentally, as if Jack could do that. She allowed herself to indulge in one last insult.

"And I couldn't possibly think of anything worse to do to her than that hair cut." Jack leapt up at the insult.

"Hey Cheerleader, my hair and I have been fighting brutes and marauders on the front line of this war. Meanwhile you get your bubbly butt kicked by some guy with a sword." Again Miranda could see anger in John's eyes, she knew how difficult that day had been for him as well as Miranda and Oriana. She quickly jumped in before John lost it, she regretted not keeping her mouth shut.

"See John, best of friends."

She saw his glare subside quickly once more, replaced quickly by a look of mischievous nature. "Honestly, I thought that it might help if you two just kissed and got it over with."

"What?" That really shocked Miranda. She gave John a look of complete horror, Jack mirroring her. She wondered whether he was messing them about, Miranda thought it would be highly unlikely that he was considering her to leave him and become a lesbian. Unless he was complete drunk, she thought.

"I mean, this is all just sexual tension right? Two powerful biotics, forceful personalties, confident in their sexuality..." He gestured, leaving his sentence in the air.

An omni-tool suddenly appeared in Miranda's face, Kasumi de-cloaking as she spoke. "I believe that there's a market for that sort of thing, want me to film it?" She spoke in her usual, humour filled tone.

"You are shitting me." Jack shook her head as she spoke.

"Oh my god." Miranda added this with her head in her hands.

"Just no Kasumi, and Shepard you are a terrible human being." Jack glared at both John and Kasumi before turning to face Miranda with a warning look. "I need another drink."

"One for me too," Miranda added a glare of her own to Kasumi, and then gave Shepard a stare. He gave a smirk in return. "No ice."

XXXXXXXX

Miranda smiled as she walked around the flat, watching the strange mix of people in the apartment. Things were beginning to wind down now, surprising Miranda that Shepard had actually let the party go on well into the morning, regardless that the attack on Chronos station was scheduled to begin in twenty four hours. Thinking of Shepard, she noticed he was no where in sight. She had seen him dancing earlier and told him to find her, but he was not amongst the passed out or sleeping bodies.

She moved up the stairs closest to the front door, passing the passed out form of Grunt. Further on down the hall she could see Tali curled up on a sofa, Garrus sitting next to her with eyes fixated on his drink. It was a stare that reminded her unnervingly of John, she supposed that it was logical that the two who had seen the most and been through the most together would bear the scars. They had both suffered greatly.

Moving on she reached John's bedroom, noting the closed door. She knocked lightly, waiting for a few seconds. There was no reply so she knocked again. There was no answer the second time either, so she slid open the door, quietly slipping inside and closing it behind.

He was sat on the floor, in the corner of the room, next to the bathroom. A selection of bottles were arrayed by his feet, the first that Miranda had seen him drink since she had been back on the Normandy. His head was lowered but he wasn't asleep, staring at a data-pad in his lap. Approaching him slowly, she could hear sound from the data-pad. She smiled sadly upon realising what the recording was, it was one of Mordin's renditions of a patter song by Gilbert and Sullivan.

She crouched down next to him, placing a hand on his knee. He slowly raised his head, meeting her eyes. She could see the pain there, the worries and anxieties, the sadness as well. There was no trace of his earlier happiness or mischievous nature.

"John?"

"Miri." His voice was weak, the same tone as when she had first seen him in Sanctuary.

"Please John, talk to me," She put a hand around his shoulders, hugging him tight. His sudden mood swings were most definitely an alarming indicator of his fragile mental state. "You don't need to do this alone, I'm hear. I'm with you."

He leaned in closer to her, laying his head on her shoulder. Then he spoke, revealing his true feelings.

"I'm scared Miri."

And then it happened, what Miranda had been both fearing and expecting for the last few days. At that moment John Shepard began to cry, his body shaking as he let go and laid his emotions bare. She didn't say anything for a few moments, choosing to hug him tightly and make occasional shushing noises. Then she decided to speak, she had to get to the bottom of the issue. John had to be in right frame of mind for the assault.

"What are you scared about John?" She asked softly, wanting to be direct but still sympathetic.

"I can't do this, I really can't." He was still crying slightly, sniffling and shaking next to her.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because," He sat back up, rubbing his hands across his eyes. "Because it's too much. Because I've already done everything I've ever been asked, and more, and it's never enough. Because there are all of these people in this apartment, all of these people who I care about so much, as well as the millions of others across the galaxy. They're all trusting me to lead them to this victory as some hero, to lead them all to safety."

She nodded sympathetically, rubbing her hand across his back in circles. She didn't interrupt, knowing that once she had him talking he would open up completely.

"Out of everyone, the ones here are more likely to die than anyone else – they'll be right on the front line. And it will be my fault if they die. Just like Legion. Just like Thane. Just like Mordin, even Kaiden. Hell even Jenkins on Eden Prime. And I can't lose them Miri, they're my family. I can't lose them, and I can't lose you."

He leaned back into her, Miranda clutching him closer again. She fully understood what was wrong now, she could see what was really bothering him. John was a carer and a protector, someone who always put others before himself. That meant that losing people hurt him more than any amount of injuries, bad enough if it's just losing people under his command. But, as he so rightly said, all of those at the party were like a family to him, and that was even worse.

He spoke again. "And what if we can't get the Catalyst? We're trusting all our hopes on Cerberus knowing the last piece of some Prothean Device that no one knows what it actually does, and no one knows if we can finish it. What if we've wasted all of our last resouces? What if it's a trap?" He was still trembling slightly.

"I understand John, I really do," She gave him a kiss on the forehead, taking the data-pad out of his hands and carefully placing it on the floor. "But we all know the risks, we all know how likely that we are to die in this fight. None of us care though, because we're all in this together. We will all follow you to the end, whether that's in victory or death. And I'm here with you John, forever. I mean it."

She cupped his cheek with her hands, lifting his head up to be level with hers. She gave him a reassuring kiss before talking again.

"Now, enough of this doom and gloom. I thought I told you to come and find me?" She stood up, still holding one of his hands in her own. She pulled him to his feet, giving him a smile as she did so. Then she turned around and led him towards the bed, adding some extra sway to her hips. When she turned around to face him she could still see the pain in his eyes. Miranda could tell what he needed, and it wasn't sex. She pulled him onto the bed, hugging him tightly. As John fell asleep she stayed awake for a few more minutes, watching him closely. As she fell asleep herself she couldn't help a tear fall from her own eyes, a tear that was for John and the atrocities he had been forced through.

XXXXXXXX

John woke up to a beautiful sight, one that he cherished above all others. Miranda was draped across his body in her usual sleeping position, one arm across his chest and her head resting on his shoulder. He knew that they had to get up, the clock on the wall indicating that they needed to board the Normandy in two hours. He didn't move yet though, allowing himself to enjoy the view of Miranda. She was truly the most beautiful person he had ever met.

After a couple of minutes he noticed her eyes fluttering, her head moving slightly as she woke up. He brought a hand to her face, rubbing the sleep gently from her eyes. Miranda smiled up at him.

"Hey." Miranda's voice was husky with sleep.

"Hey," He kissed her on the forehead lovingly. "I love watching you wake up."

She gave him a peck on the lips at his words, sitting up slightly. They were both fully clothed still, having fallen asleep in one another's arms.

"Let's make it a habit then John," He smiled at her words, briefly considering a life for the two of them. "How are you feeling?"

"Strangely relieved," John did feel slightly relieved now. He hadn't been coping with the stress of the war, he knew that. But John had never admitted it to anyone, never wanting to worry his crew. Now he had revealed his feelings though, revealed everything to Miranda. It was a testimony to their relationship, the strength of the bond between them, that he had felt able to talk to her. Shepard still had a way to go, but with Miranda by his side he knew that he stood a much better chance to succeed. "Thank you Miranda."

"For what?" She caressed his cheek with the back of her hand, giving him a look of genuine confusion.

"For being here, for me," He gave her a tender kiss on the lips. "You don't realise how much your helping me."

"Well I'm glad that I can help," She gave him a return kiss before sitting up properly. "Now shall we see if anyone else is up? We do have to go and destroy Cerberus today."

**A/N Hope the surprise from Hannah Shepard is interesting, I'll be making a big deal out of that on the last night chapter after Chronos Station however, I've worked out a nice little bit of made up history for it (well I think it's nice!). Thanks for all feedback so far and let me know on your opinions of written sex scene/fade out.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N This chapter took up much more space than I thought, Chronos station may turn out to be a three part mission. Thanks for your feedback once again guys, responses keep me motivated to work well on this.**

**Enjoy**

**16/05/2013 Minor edits made to beginning section.**

Chapter 10 – Cleaning House, Chronos Station Part 1

A display of Chronos Station popped up on the War Room projector in front of the squad. Everyone was gathered around, listening intently to John's brief.

"So this is Chronos Station. We have a number of both primary and secondary orders going into this mission," He swallowed, truth be told he was nervous for this mission. They had to perform perfectly, and there was only going to be one attempt. "We're splitting into two teams of three for this. I'll lead one, Ash are you OK to lead the other?"

The marine gave him a puzzled look. "Sure, but I thought you would want Garrus or Miranda to do it."

"Nope. Garrus will be in charge of the Normandy, remaining here with James and Javik. Miranda will be too busy to command."

"OK then Skipper, I won't let you down."

"Good," He smiled at Ashley before regarding the other members of the squad. "Miranda and Tali will accompany you, Liara and EDI will be with me."

A chuckle was heard from James. "Taking all the ladies with you, eh Loco?"

"Shut up James," Shepard was short with the lieutenant, they couldn't afford to mess around with this mission. "It just works out better, plus some of you have jobs to do here whilst we're gone."

They shared a knowing look before Shepard continued with the plans, the rest of the squad entirely confused. Miranda looked particularly suspicious of the pair but said nothing.

"We have two primary objectives here. The foremost of these is to locate the Prothean VI from Thessia, we have to get it back. Even if it takes the lives of all six of us, we have to get that back."

There were solemn nods around the room, everyone knew the importance of retrieving the VI. It was the only hope of finding the Catalyst and completing the Crucible. That was also the reason for leaving three squadmates behind, just in case this mission did take their lives.

"There will be other N7 teams entering the station, they have their own tasks as well. Apparently their led by Captian Kirahhe, Some of us have worked with him before. He's good." John briefly reminisced about the mission on Virmire. Even though Kaiden had died, it was remarkable that the Salarian had pulled his men through.

"Our other primary objective is to take Cerberus out of this war once and for all. Hackett doesn't care how it's done, just cause as much damage to their operations as possible. It would be preferable to have The Illusive Man's head blown off, the same goes for Kai Leng."

This time there were grins around the table, all of the team relishing the possibility of dealing with the leaders of Cerberus. They were particularly keen on repaying The Illusive Man for his treachery and Kai Leng for his murder of Thane. John continued with his briefing.

"That leads me to the secondary objectives of the mission. We will deploy from the shuttle at this hangar, both teams together," A red dot appeared on the display of the space station. "My team will head downwards, moving through the service tunnels and hopefully providing a good distraction. Ashley your team will head upwards towards their secondary laboratories, armouries and defence turret controls," Two lines formed on the display, a green one for John's route and a blue one for Ashley's. Both lines then converged in the middle of the station. "We will be meeting back up here, the entrance to this central chamber."

Again nods were seen around the table, all squadmates memorising the routes.

"Team two will be dealing the extra damage. Miranda will be hacking as many data points as possible, hopefully giving us a bigger picture of Cerberus' other operations throughout the galaxy and what resources they have left. In addition she will be siphoning off all of their funds, we'll need all that cash later on." He paused before adding an afterthought. "And if you see any nice guns or armour in the armouries then nick 'em."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist a massive room full of explosives Shepard." There was a huge grin on Garrus' face as he made the jibe.

"Yeah, to be honest I was just looking for a souvenir to bring back, maybe a new scope for you Garrus. You still can't shoot straight," There were laughs around the table at this but they quickly receded. "Any questions?"

Liara spoke up. "What can we expect? I don't mean the troopers necessarily, but are there any nasty surprises?"

"Well," Miranda placed a hand under her chin as she considered Liara's question. "I'm not sure exactly but there are a couple of tricks that I know were on other stations that I used. One was to vent the hangars to space, another was forcing enemies into particular corridors with...vicious decontamination protocols."

"Such as?" Ashley asked the question with a hint of irritation.

"Basically incineration."

"That's just lovely," Ashley shook her head as she spoke. "How do we deal with that then?"

Shepard leaned forward, placing his arms over the edge of the War Room display. "That is why I have placed EDI and Miranda in separate squads. Both have extensive knowledge of Cerberus countermeasures and will be able to hack or deactivate any systems without too much trouble. Also note that Tali is with your team and will be able to help Miranda with any other hacking."

"Suppose that works then." Ashley gave him a curt nod.

"If that's all then get ready, we board in thirty minutes. I need to speak to Hackett first though." He received a chorus of salutes, nods, and bows from the squad before turning into the QEC room. The blue avatar of the Admiral appeared.

"I trust that you are ready commander?"

"Of course, we're prepared to take Cerberus out of this war. What's the status of the crucible?"

"Other than the Catalyst it's finished, ready for deployment. There's no way to hide the ships we're sending at Cerberus though, this is the beginning of the final push."

"What if the Prothean VI doesn't have the knowledge we need?"

Hackett leaned forwards, absolute certainty in his eyes. "Then we lead the fleets to Earth and take our chances anyway. There's no other way."

Shepard nodded, glad that someone else was so sure of their chosen path of action. "Then lets do this."

"OK," Hackett nodded. "I'll mobilise the fleets. Good luck commander."

Hackett's form phased out of view, leaving Shepard standing in the room. He heard a sound behind him, turning to see Miranda leaning on the doorway.

"Are you OK?" She was studying him again.

"Just some nerves I guess, I'll be better once we're down there." This was the truth, John often found himself nervous in the immediate run up to missions.

"OK. Guess we better get ready then." He nodded, following her out of the room.

XXXXXXXX

John walked up to the cockpit of the Normandy, seeing EDI standing next to Joker's chair. Various flashes of explosions could be seen through the viewing window of the cockpit.

"Joker, what's our status?"

"We've got a foothold, but it's not much." The pilot answered without needing to turn around, gesturing to a display with information from the fifth fleet.

"Can you get us in?" Shepard was desperate to board now, but he wasn't prepared to lose the Normandy in the process.

"Can I?" There was a huge amount of sarcasm in the pilot's voice, as per usual. "I got us to Ilos."

John grinned slightly, Joker always brought that up whenever anyone questioned his skills. Next to Joker, EDI spoke.

"Commander, I'm ready to leave now." Before Shepard could answer Joker spoke up and turned around, his voice thick with disbelief.

"What? You can't go down there, what if they have a kill switch or something?" There was a slight glimmer of fear in the pilot's eyes.

"Jeff," EDI spoke in a reassuring tone. "I'll be fine."

"Good, head down to the shuttle bay EDI."

"Yes commander." The synthetic walked off, John moving around the chair to look at Joker. The pilot spoke once more.

"Fifth fleet has cut through their lines, they're regrouping. Now's as good a time as any." He could see that there was still concern in the pilot's eyes, clearly Joker was trying to mask his worries. This briefly reminded John of the situation on Sanctuary, except there was nothing that Joker could do to protect EDI. He decided to console the pilot before he left, he needed Joker working at peak ability.

"I know it hurts, not being able to go with her."

"Ach, it sucks. Thanks for bringing that up," Joker shook his head. " Just keep her safe."

John nodded solemn, emphasising with Joker's position completely. "You too."

With that he turned and headed down to the shuttle bay.

XXXXXXXX

The shuttle bolted out of the hangar bay, hurtling through the space ahead of the Normandy. Sitting in the co-pilot's chair John could see the space battle unfolding in front of them. The large Station was surrounded by ships of all shapes and sizes, both from the Alliance and Cerberus. Fighters zipped around, dog fighting in the shadows of immense cruisers and dreadnoughts who were trading mass reactive rounds with one another. The fight wasn't as large as the immense space battle above Rannoch, but it was just as desperate.

Once again John found himself lamenting The Illusive Man's choices. The sheer size of the Cerberus ground forces and Armadas were staggering, easily surpassing the strength of entire colony defence forces. If Cerberus had of joined the Aliance it would have bolstered their strength vastly.

Steve flew them towards the designated insertion point, piloting the shuttle with incredible dexterity and skill. John was there only to assist, ready to warn Cortez of any enemy craft that posed them a threat. Enemy fighters were a particular worry, Cerberus had some of the most advanced fighter craft deployed in the battle. They would pick off a shuttle with ease, even with Cortez at the helm.

The shuttle got through the battle safely however, lining up with the hangar as it made it's final approach. Someone on the station must have noticed their approach though, giant blast doors attempting to close and prevent entry. Cortez accelerated the shuttle, managing to pass through the doors and only scraping the side of the shuttle. It slammed down onto the ground, Cortez giving John a look of absolute innocence.

"Sorry."

Shepard gave Cortez a grin and a nod before standing up, moving into the back of the shuttle. The others were all ready, Ashley standing by the hatch in a defensive posture. He drew the Cerberus Harrier that he had brought along, preferring a slightly lighter weapon for this mission. Then he nodded to Ashley, she turned, popped the hatch open, and moved out. The rest of the team followed.

They moved around the side of the shuttle, seeing the hangar that they had landed in. It was a very large room, filled with crates and boxes stamped with the Cerberus logo. Catwalks surrounded the hangar, forming an upper floor mezzanine. John drew his eyes back down from the upper level to see the force arrayed in front of them.

A small squad was stationed in the hangar, comprised of only three assault troopers and a pair of centurions. All six of the team dived forward, all rolling into cover behind various crates. Shepard was positioned in between Liara and Miranda, directly in the middle of the squad. He popped up from behind cover, delegating targets instantly through his HUD and then taking cover once more. It was much quicker to use the HUD with a bigger squad such as the current one.

A second later, his chosen plan was initiated. The shields of the centurions sparked out immediately, one taking an EMP blast from Miranda whilst the other took one from EDI. At the same time Liara launched a singularity towards two of the assault troopers, hoisting them into the air around a swirling blue nexus. These attacks were followed up by Ashley setting the centurions on fire with an inferno grenade, Shepard blasting apart the floating assault troopers with a concussive shot, and Tali killing the last assault trooper with a vicious shotgun blast.

Shepard was about to order the squad to move when a huge explosion went off behind him, a mass reactive round colliding with the crates behind them. He followed back the trajectory of the shot, tracing it to an ATLAS walker that had appeared from a passage on the left of the chamber. Shepard cursed.

"Damn it, ATLAS mech. Take out the shields..." He was interrupted by Miranda calling from his left.

"Enemies on the left upper level, they're dropping down to the hangar floor." She pulled back behind cover.

"Fantastic," Shepard rolled his eyes, peeking over the cover himself. "Ignore them for now, take down the walker."

He released a whole clip from his Harrier into the canopy area, dropping it's shields by a small margin. Flashes of blue light could be seen dancing across the walker, indicating another use of Miranda and EDI's EMPs. This time the shields dropped completely, allowing the armour of the ATLAS to be damaged.

"Drop it's armour, now!" As Shepard said this he raised from cover, throwing a frag grenade at the walker. Ashley threw another inferno grenade at the same time, both explosives detonating at the same time. The walker staggered, flames licking along it's armoured legs. Liara then hurled a warp at it, them biotic power detonating and shattering the canopy. The pilot was then riddled with holes, Tali's shotgun scoring another kill.

"Push forward." Shepard ran another five metres and slid behind cover, the rest of the squad following.

Another four troopers moved towards them, two centurions and two assault troopers, with a nemesis sniper covering them from above. He didn't need to give orders to the squad this time, they knew what they were doing. All of the troops on the ground went down quickly, being annihilated at close range. The nemesis stood up to take aim but never got to shoot, Ashley taking off the snipers head with one round from the Kyrasae she had borrowed from Garrus.

As the gunfire receded an automated voice could be heard, emitted from speakers in the ceiling.

"Boarding repulsion has failed, initiating Achilles protocol."

"Oh god, I know that one." Miranda began quickly looking around the hangar, John realising that she was searching for something. EDI provided the answer.

"Shepard, Cerberus intends to vent the hanger."

He cursed mentally, none of the organic squadmates had helmets with them. "Can you stop it?"

"It can be hacked but we need an active console to do it." Miranda began pacing around the outside of the hangar, looking around for the console. EDI chimed in.

"We could try the upper level."

Shepard ran to the ladder on the left, passing the destroyed ATLAS. He quickly ascended, seeing a door to his right. He opened the door, finding a bank of consoles on his right.

"EDI, Miranda, I've got a console here."

Both the synthetic and biotic bolted up the ladder, running towards John. EDI began typing furiously, Miranda watching closely over her shoulder.

"Deactivated." Miranda sighed in relief, John echoing her. The other squad members joined them, taking up defensive positions around them.

"Can you open the hangar bay doors from here?"

"No," EDI shook her head. "But I can access the fighter launch controls." She demonstrated her point by accessing the terminal, raising a fighter from the storage bays below and making it sit on it's launch bay. This gave Shepard an idea, but before he could voice it Miranda spoke up.

"John, they'll know the venting attempt failed. The station commanders will send extra squads our way."

"Roger that, let's go then." He reloaded his rifle and moved to the door in front of him. As it opened he became face to face with a Cerberus squad, a guardian and two assault troopers. "Liara, now!"

They had become accustomed to dealing with guardians by now, especially whenever Liara was on the squad. She would create a singularity behind the trooper, this could rip the shield from their grip allowing them to be dispatched easily. This happened now, both assault troopers being caught up as well. Miranda launched a warp at the swirling vortex of dark energy, detonating it perfectly. The guardian was hurled against the doorway, his neck snapping loudly. Both troopers were also heavily injured by the biotic blast, then being put down by pistol shots from Liara.

He led the team through the doorway, turning right afterwards. Now they were on the mezzanine he had seen earlier, a view of the hangar to their right. There was a warning from EDI.

"Another Cerberus squad inbound."

Ashley replied to the synthetic. "Guess they figured out what we're doing."

Shepard narrowed his eyes, picturing what would happen if they were to fail. "They're not stopping us this time." With that he charged forwards, moving several metres ahead of the the rest of the squad. Two assault troopers came from a door on the right, a nemesis, centurion, and guardian following. The suppressing fire from the enemy stopped the other squadmates from following him.

Ignoring the danger he popped up, removing both assault troopers with a concussive round. He then charger forwards, deploying his omni-blade.

"John, what are you doing?" He ignored Miranda's concerned voice temporarily, focussing on the enemy.

He slammed his blade into the nemesis, bypassing the shields completely and badly wounding the sniper. She jumped back, bleeding profusely from a wound in her stomach, and attempted to raise her rifle. John was quicker though, stitching her wounded lower torso with rounds from his Harrier. She crumpled against the wall behind her dead.

His attention was grabbed by the centurion who had crept up behind John. He felt a pain in his back, turning around to see that the Cerberus officer had jammed a combat blade into the rear of his armour. He ignored the sting for now, whipping his arm out at the centurion. He followed this up with an upper cut to the centurions head, snapping his neck backwards. In the same movement he brought up his rifle, killing the centurion with a pair of head shots.

John whirled round, ready to deal with the guardian that he had seen earlier. He didn't have to worry however, the guardian was already lying dead on the floor with his shield tossed away. The team ran up to him, Liara's biotics fading and Ashley's sniper cooling down. Miranda had a look of disapproval on her face.

"That was not a clever idea John, what were you thinking?" She shook her head as she spoke. John didn't look at her, instead he walked through the door to his right and looked at a console on the wall of the room. There was a clear view of the fighter EDI had raised up from the storage bays earlier. He remembered the idea he had thought of earlier.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle Miranda, EDI can you rotate the fighter one half turn? We could use it to blow out the hangar doors."

"Yes, one moment," The synthetic began typing on the console. John felt pressure on his back, turning his head to see Miranda rubbing medi-gel into the stab wound. He gave her a grin which caused her to roll her eyes. EDI stopped typing and stood up. "Overriding safeties, fighters can now be launched directly into the hanger doors."

He grinned once more as he saw the fighter rotate one hundred and eighty degrees, murmurs of understanding coming from the other members of the squad.

"Perfect. Lets get down there."

With that he opened another door, seeing a ladder down to the main hangar floor. He descended with the rest of the squad following. EDI walked straight over to a console after jumping from the ladder, again typing in commands.

"Launching fighter, I suggest you take cover." They all complied with the suggestion, diving behind crates and support columns. John heard a whining noise as an eezo core was fired up, and then a deafening roar as the fighter was launched. There was then a series of colossal explosions, the floor shaking underneath his feet.

As the sounds receded Shepard stood up, taking in the scene in front of them. The fighter had not only taken out the hangar doors, but blazed a path directly through the station. The rough hole gave them a view of several hundred metres, burning and twisted rubble visible whenever a wall had been breached. He heard a chuckle from Ashley, he laughed slightly himself. It was nice to cause such damage to hated foes for a change.

As they began walking towards the hole movement was seen from within. Another ATLAS strode out of the flames, shields sparking as burning debris dropped onto it. Another pair of assault troopers ran alongside it, sprinting to keep up with it's relentless advance. The walker lowered it's cannon and aimed at John's current position, firing with deadly accuracy. He rolled out of the way, taking only minor damage to his shields. In return he launched a concussive round at one of the troopers, killing the enemy on contact. The other assault trooper took a Kyrasae round to the head from Ashley, his body crumpling on the ground.

They dealt with the ATLAS in their established routine. EMPs and rapid fire weapons took down it's shields quickly, grenades and incineration blasts removing it's armour. Amazingly the kill went to Chiktikka, Tali's combat drone, who killed the pilot with a high powered electric shock. The Quarian celebrated, happily praising her beloved drone.

"That was the last Cerberus team in this area. I am surprised that you did not make use of the two empty ATLAS walkers though commander." Shepard paused, unsure of what EDI was talking about.

"What empty ATLAS walkers?"

Miranda began to laugh, pointing out the pair of empty walkers on either side of them. Shepard scowled, it would have been much quicker to have used them to clear out the enemy troops.

"Christ, next time point them out to me guys. Lets get moving." They walked onwards, moving through their impromptu pathway. There was one locked door to their left and another one on their right.

"Commander," EDI spoke to them whilst looking at schematics on her omni-tool. "Our team needs to head left, commander Williams' team needs to head through the right door."

"OK then, lets split up," He nodded to Ashley. "Good luck, see you at the rendezvous point."

"You too Skipper." She turned around, Tali following her. Miranda moved towards John, giving him a quick kiss.

"Be careful John." She was deadly serious as she said this.

"You too."

With that they walked away from one another, Shepard passing immediately through the door once EDI had unlocked it.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N I really didn't expect to go into this much detail for Chronos, but it just sort of happened. It'll only take one more chapter to clear up the mission.**

**One thing that I thought was missed in the game was Ashley's reaction to seeing the human Reaper on Chronos. I think that she would have finally realised how mistaken she was in ME2 and ealier on in the war. Contrary to a lot of Miranda fans, I really like Ashley and thought she deserved more redemption than the couple of chats she had after the coup attempt - hence the part at the end of the chapter.**

Chapter 11 – Cleaning House, Chronos Station Part 2

The door closed behind the group of three, leaving them in a small room with just a trapdoor and ladder in front of them. Low level red emergency lighting could be seen from the ducts below, through the hatch. Shepard spoke quietly, not sure who may be below them.

"Did you have any trouble with the door EDI?"

"Cerberus has updated their algorithms, but it is not a significant obstacle for myself."

"Good," He nodded, glad to have capable tech experts on both his own and Ashley's team. "How are Cerberus reacting to us breaking out of the hangar?"

"All forces are being re-routed to halt us, but it will be difficult for them to directly stop both teams. The fighter has taken out many of the security sections." John was pleased with EDI's analysis, glad that their divisional tactics would help.

"Any more surprises like venting the hangar?"

"No, I am aware of this facilities safeguards and can counteract them," Once again he was thankful for EDI's tech mastery. "Cerberus can merely slow us down."

"Good, let's move."

He moved onto the ladder, analysing his surroundings as he descended. Reaching the bottom he drew his weapon, eyes searching for targets. They were clearly in the service areas, surrounded by a mixture of pipes and vents. Smoke and steam swirled around them, rising up from the hexagonal grated floor underneath them. John began to sweat in the heat, it was swelteringly hot in these ducts.

He gestured for EDI and Liara to form up behind him, following the pipes around to the right. He stood against a wall before turning around the corner, peering around to check for the presence of enemy troopers. A sniper round whizzed past his head, forcing him back into cover straight away.

"We've got a long room, about twenty five metres in length. Various places for cover but there's a nemesis camping at the back." The others nodded at his report, Liara charging up her biotics.

He counted down to three before dashing around the corner. He stole a glance down the room whilst rolling into cover, checking the enemy force arrayed against them.

"There's three assault troopers up front. I'll distract them whilst you two come round the corner." With these words he leaned out of cover, firing from the hip at the troopers. His covering fire had the desired effect, killing one and forcing the other two to dive behind a nearby section of pipes. Liara and EDI ran around the corner, EDI crouching next to Shepard whilst Liara moved to their left.

"Liara, singularity."

She didn't need telling twice, instantly standing up and creating a singularity behind the troopers. One was completely hoisted up, the other dragged out of cover and dumped on the open floor in front of them. EDI shot the pair of them with her SMG, Liara allowing the singularity to drop quickly. There was still the issue of the nemesis however. She was now joined by a centurion who was moving forward steadily.

John noticed another path to their right, allowing him to bypass the centurion and deal with the nemesis at close range.

"Cover me, I'll flank them."

He received affirmation from the others and then rose out of cover, sprinting to the right and vaulting over the pipes that were there. He then took a sharp left and ran forwards, clearing the vents in front of him. The centurion didn't notice that he had left, the officer was now trading fire with his squadmates. Shepard slowed his pace, manoeuvring around the corner. As he rounded the corner he noticed a flaw with his plan, there was a squad of three assault troopers hiding next to the sniper. He cursed, vocalising his annoyance.

"Shit."

There was a weird moment, one where both he and the troopers paused for a second, neither expecting the others to be there. Then both sides rushed into action. Shepard ripped a grenade from his belt, tossing it directly into the enemies. He then rolled backwards, taking himself out of the blast zone. The grenade exploded before the Cerberus troops could get clear, ripping apart their body armour and shredding the flesh underneath. The nemesis was also caught in the blast, throwing her backwards and out of cover. She was unable to get back behind the pipes before EDI targeted her with an incineration blast, committing the sniper to a fiery death.

"Area clear commander." EDI informed the commander of this as she walked over to an ammo crate by the wall. Shepard joined her, picking up grenades and medi-gel from the wall station. Liara walked up to them.

"They're throwing lots of troops at us down here." John had to agree, he had been expecting resistance but nothing like this.

"How can they afford to waste so many?" He mused as he walked to a ladder next to them, peering upwards.

"Cerberus employs Reaper augmented troops," As EDI explained John remembered the modified troopers he had seen on Mars. "They use captured civilians and indoctrinate them, quickly converting them into dispensable shock troops."

He turned to look at the synthetic, a look of horror on his face. Liara mirrored his expression.

"By the Goddess, we're fighting civilians?"

EDI turned to face the Asari. "Yes." She then turned back, ascending the ladder. John shook his head as he followed her up, again finding himself shocked at the atrocities Cerberus was prepared to commit.

When he reached the top he saw EDI standing by a locked door, running a bypass on her omni-tool.

"We will be through momentarily. You may wish to have a look on that console over there, it has not been fully scrubbed." He walked over to the indicated console, cocking his head as he studied it.

"What am I looking at?"

"Project Lazarus, your reconstruction."

John swallowed, unsure of what to do. He still found it difficult to think about the fact that he had died, it wasn't something that the human brain was designed to cope with. He felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"John, you don't need to look at it now." He turned to look at Liara, seeing understanding in her eyes. He knew that it wasn't a good idea to look at the video logs now, it would distract him during the rest of the mission.

"I'll download them to my omni-tool to look at later," He transferred the data, sure that this was the best idea. It also meant that he could go through the information with Miranda, she would be able to answer any questions it posed. "How's the door coming EDI?"

"We're clear to proceed now commander."

The door opened and they walked through the opening. Shepard stopped as his communicator buzzed, signalling an incoming external transmission. The gruff voice of Admiral Hackett came through the comms.

"Hackett here. Insertion team, what's you status?"

"We've cleared the hangar and have entered the base," He started walking again. "We've split into our sub-teams."

"Good work," The admiral sounded genuinely happy. "Do you need support?"

"Negative, keep the heat on. We'll find what we need," He stopped, noting a massive hole caused by the fighter in front of them, and then broke off the communication to swap to Ashley's frequency. "Ash, hows it going?"

"Fine," The marine sounded out of breath, gunfire could be heard under her voice. "We've pushed through their information centres and are moving onto the automated defences. We've picked up a lot of credits and Lawson has some juicy information."

"Good, stay safe."

"Roger that, you too." She broke off the comms.

He moved forward, through the hole in the wall. Lots of wreckage was strewn around, forcing the squad to clamber over debris. Some areas were still on fire, and other bits of rubble were still shifting and falling. Climbing over a set of vents he saw another hole, this time in the ground. Peering into the hole he could see that it lead into another set of service ducts, just like the one they had been in. John dropped down into the hole, the other two on his heels.

The tunnel rounded to the left sharply, again providing ample opportunity for an ambush. Wary of their earlier encounters Shepard activated his scanner first, identifying three enemies around the corner. He backed against the wall and unclipped a grenade from his belt, priming it in his hand. He then stuck his hand out of cover, skimming the grenade lightly down the tunnel. It exploded a couple of seconds later, the distinctive ring of contact on body armour audible.

He charged around the corner, immediately taking heavy fire. One of the enemies was an engineer and had placed a turret in the middle of the corridor. His shields went down as he rolled left and into cover. The turret was focusing on him, allowing EDI and Liara to slip by unnoticed. An EMP removed the shields from the turret, followed up quickly by Liara's warp. The turret exploded, showering the area with shrapnel.

He waited in cover for a couple of seconds, allowing his shields to recharge. Whilst there Liara called out a warning to him.

"The engineer is placing another turret."

He saw that she was right, the engineer had survived his earlier grenade. He raised up, taking aim. John knew from past experience that it was effective to target the turrets that were being deployed, they exploded in the hands of the engineers. He did just this, causing the turret to blow up and throw the engineer backwards to never move again.

"Clear."

They formed back up, EDI stopping to grab a thermal clip from a dead assault trooper. As she reloaded they began moving again, pacing warily. They rounded a corner to the left, hearing movement ahead. He crouched down and slowly manoeuvred around another set of pipes, giving himself a view of the section of service tunnel in front of them.

It was a much wider room than any of the others, with another ladder at the back. Getting to the ladder would be a problem, however. Clearly Cerberus had been planning on slowing them down earlier to create defences at choke points such as this. In front of the squad were several rows of Cerberus shield walls, adding to the already dense cover provided by the structure of the tunnel. Despite the cover Shepard still cursed at the force arrayed against them, two turrets, two assault troopers, and an engineer. He made a plan of action, relaying orders to his squadmates.

"EDI, pop the shields on the first turret. Liara I want you to warp it's armour," He moved into position, lining up his sights to ambush the assault troops. "Then move back into cover, wait to recharge and repeat the process with the other turret."

He received acknowledgements, both of his companions moving into striking positions. On his call they exploded into action.

EDI launched an EMP into the first turret, unloading fire from her SMG straight afterwards. The shields went down before the turret could return fire, Liara taking a couple of rounds as she leaned out of cover and warped it. As the turret exploded the assault troopers moved to the source of the attacks, straight into Shepard's line of fire. He stitched rounds across the two, penetrating their chest plates and creating mini craters that soon filled with blood. All three of the squad hid back behind cover, preparing for another attack. EDI raised up once more but was forced back behind cover before letting off her EMP, her own shields sparking with damage.

"Commander, two centurions have descended from the ladder."

"Damn," John glanced around, looking for a solution. There was another path around to the right, allowing him to flank the turret. He remembered his error earlier trying to flank the nemesis, but there was no other option here. "Keep position for now. When I say, drop the turret."

"Understood."

He smoothly climbed over the pipes in front of him, stalking around to the right. He passed a large square vent on his left, meaning that he had moved beyond the turrets position. He stopped at the end of the vent, crouching down and checking his scanner. The centurions had moved up to the turret, advancing on Liara and EDI's position. The engineer was now at the back however, an arms reach around the corner from John. Marines were trained how to kill silently, but he had never had much chance to use these skills. He ran through the motions in his head quickly, checked the position of the engineer, and then he struck.

Shepard rose and tip-toed around the corner, seeing that the engineer was focused on fixing a shield generator in front of the ladder. He reached a metres distance and then lurched forwards, catching the crouching engineer off guard. He slipped one arm around the enemies chest, hurling the engineer to the right. Then John dove on top of the soldier, jabbing his armoured right hand into the engineers throat guard. The small piece of armour was forced sharply backwards, cutting open his throat and causing blood to run out around the throat guard.. The engineer silently suffocated, his armoured helmet preventing much of the gurgling sound from being heard. Then John sprung up, calling out to Liara and EDI.

"Now!"

On his words EDI rose and let off her EMP, hitting both of the centurions as well as the intended turret. The centurions staggered, attempting to deal with their overloaded shields, whilst the turret sparked. Liara let off a warp directly at the turret, exploding it on contact and further shocking the centurions. The Cerberus officers had no idea where to turn, realising that they were beset upon from both sides. Shepard quickly dispatched them with his Harrier, only needing to use about half a clip.

"This way commander," EDI climbed up the ladder, Shepard following her up. When he reached the top she was busy hacking another door. "If you are interested there are more functional consoles nearby."

"What do these have on them?"

"Information about my own creation." The synthetic didn't betray any emotion in her voice as she told him this.

"You want me to look?" He didn't want to intrude on any information that she considered private.

"I have no preference commander." Again she didn't sound bothered . He checked the chronometer on his omni-tool, they were due to meet the other team in the next few minutes.

"We don't have the time to view it now, but I'll send it to the Normandy. Then you can check it out with Jeff if you want."

"Understood commander, the door is now open." As she said this the door in front opened, showing the room beyond.

Shepard walked into the room, glancing around. It appeared to be a laboratory of sorts, large items of medical equipment were arranged around beds and tables. There were bloodstains on the walls, ones that were not caused by fighting. It seemed that they were passing through one of the laboratories used for troop augmentation.

As he picked up a pair of grenades from a nearby dump Hackett's voice came over the comm.

"Insertion team, are you still with us? We're limiting fire as best we can."

"Admiral, we're in deep and the Prothean VI will be in the safest part of the station," Shepard replied as he clipped the grenades onto his belt. "Don't hold back."

The Admiral sighed before responding. "This isn't Akuze Shepard, I want everyone to come out of this alive."

Shepard shook his head, he knew they would be safe from Alliance fire this deep inside the station. "I'll be fine, just take Cerberus down," He remembered all that the organisation had done during the war, desperate for them to be destroyed. "Please."

Just then he heard a clicking sound to his right, turning round to see Miranda and the other team approaching. He didn't pay much attention to Hackett's reply as he gave her the once over, checking her for injuries. She closed the distance, doing the same to him. They shared a brief kiss as Hackett's voice receded.

"Much trouble John?" She ran her hand along his back, checking that the wound was still closed.

"Not too much, though I have found some interesting data to look at later," She gave him a confused look. "Lazarus project data. I didn't want to look at it now, it would distract me."

"Good call," She nodded sympathetically. "And I can explain things to you."

"Exactly," He turned to Ashley. "Everything OK?"

The marine was picking up grenades herself, restocking her supplies. She looked over to him. "Yeah, all good. Miranda and Tali got a lot of hacking done, I think they got some good stuff. Automated defences are shut down, should give the fleet an easier time. Armouries were pretty boring though."

"Oh, that's a downer," Tali and Liara chuckled at this, both amused at his genuine disappointment. "EDI, where next?"

The synthetic walked past and stood next to a large jagged hole in the wall, gesturing to it. "The central chamber is through here."

"Got it, everyone ready to move?" A chorus of agreements rang out, all of the squad reloading their weapons. "Lets go."

He walked over to the large hole, looking down into it. The drop was only a couple of metres, easily manageable. He jumped, flexing his knees to cushion the impact, and took a couple of steps forwards taking in the sight of the chamber. He stood stock still when he caught sight of it's contents, having flashbacks of the Collector Base. Miranda came and stood next to him, voicing similar thoughts to his own.

"Oh my god," She looked at him, a look of slight horror on her face. "I never thought we would see that again."

In front of them, hanging in the chamber, was the human Reaper they had destroyed on the Collector Base. The carcass that should have been blown into millions of pieces in the Galactic Core. Clearly Cerberus had brought it through the Omega-4 relay when they had control over Omega station. It sickened John that they had just hung it up like a trophy, regardless of the countless human lives it took to build it.

"What in god's name is that?" Ashley walked slightly in front of them, her rifle hanging loosely in her hands. She was staring at the Reaper, mouth slightly agape.

"It's the human Reaper we killed on the Collector Base."

She replied instantly. "This is what the Collectors did with all of those colonists?"

"Yes."

"And this is why you worked with Cerberus?" He noted that this was the first time she had said that he worked with Cerberus, not for them.

"Yes, the Alliance and the Council wouldn't listen. They wouldn't help."

The marine turned around to face them, a look of incredible guilt on her face. She dropped her gun on the floor and spread her arms outwards, walking quickly towards Shepard.

"I'm so sorry John, I'm sorry," She stopped in front of him. "I shouldn't have let myself be blinded to the truth, I should never had doubted you."

"It's OK Ash, you had reasons."

"It's not OK though," She was practically distraught now, terribly ashamed of her actions. "I should have stood by you through anything, not because of our relationship, but because you were my friend. I slandered you, and hurt you, and..."

"Ashley, stop. It's OK," He put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a small smile. "It's in the past."

"If your sure, then thankyou," She turned to look at Miranda. "And I was wrong about you too Miranda. I can see why you left Cerberus, I can't believe The Illusive Man would want to keep this abomination."

John looked at Miranda, seeing the biotic give Ashley a smile as she replied.

"Don't worry about it."

"While I hate to interrupt such a redeeming chat," Liara walked over to them. "We should probably get moving."

"Your right," John nodded, turning his expression serious. "Lets move."

**A/N As ever, feedback is appreciated - hope people are still enjoying this.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N One of the things I was really looking forward to was the Kai Leng show down. I've modified it slightly, but I hope it's good. **

**Also, I'm literally going to repost Chapters 9 and 10 in the next couple of minutes, there's some minute changes - nothing too major. If your confused about the very ending of this chapter then check out a change to the beginning of 10, it'll explain it.**

Chapter 12 – Cleaning House, Chronos Station Part 3

The team moved forwards quietly, careful not to make any sounds. The cavernous room was sure to echo with every noise. There were some occasional groaning noises coming from the corpse of the Reaper, the immense chains holding up the construct swaying as the station took fire from the Alliance warships.

They began moving up a flight of stairs in front of them, Shepard tracking his rifle from left to right. As he moved up the first few steps a slight buzzing sound was audible, quickly becoming louder. He ascended the stairs, ending up on a mesh catwalk hanging over empty space. The floor of the chamber was to deep to be visible, more sections of the Reapers corpse were below them though. Then he saw movement, through the grated mesh that made up the floor.

"More Cerberus forces en route."

On EDI's call a phantom jumped into view on his right, hurtling over the barriers. Now that the squad numbered six again he didn't have to relay orders, the brute force of the group was amazing. As the phantom rushed towards John it took heavy fire, a pair of EMPs and two concussive rounds slamming straight into the specialists chest. The body hit the floor immediately, Ashley sneering at the corpse.

"Try jumping now!"

John laughed at the comment, meanwhile taking cover behind a support strut on the right of the catwalk. Miranda was taking cover to his left.

"There's a nemesis dropping down onto the catwalk above."

He leaned out of cover to toss a grenade along the walkway, the explosion hurling two assault troopers off their feet and over the edge of the chasm. Then he turned to Miranda with a grin on his face. "I do like it when you say catwalk Miri."

"Not this again," She looked at him incredulously, EDI moving past to launch an EMP at the nemesis. "I thought we established that this immaturity would get you killed."

"When did that happen?" He moved out of cover, shooting and killing the nemesis with a couple of headshots.

"The Collector Base," She shook her head, slightly red at the chuckles from the other squad members. "Stop it John, seriously."

The team moved around a corner to the right, passing a destroyed shield pylon. The catwalk extended forwards before another right hand turn, various support struts offering more cover..

"She's got you whipped comman..." Ashley stopped talking as another phantom jumped up from their left. Again a pair of overloads struck home immediately, followed up by two shotgun blasts from Tali who had moved to the front of the group. The body fell back off the walkway, falling over the barrier to the left.

Two more assault troopers appeared, again on the left. The troopers realised that the phantom was dead, clearly expecting close combat support, and immediately beating a hasty retreat whilst firing from the hip. It couldn't save them however, a singularity from Liara hoisting them up before Miranda detonated it with a well placed warp.

The team followed the walkway around to the right, now having moved in a U shape. Ahead of them was a long ladder, descending from another similar catwalk about fifteen metres above. Shepard saw movement up the top, squinting to make out what their opposition was. He soon discovered who faced them, yet another phantom dropping down the ladder, a nemesis positioning herself at the top of the ladder to cover.

"Ash, stay back and counter-snipe the nemesis. Liara, stay with her," He reloaded his rifle. "Everyone else, on me."

The first four of them moved forwards, Ashley and Liara remaining behind. John was about to fire at the phantom but was interrupted by the appearance of a second of the close combat troops, jumping up from their right. He was the closet to the phantom and had to roll backwards to evade a swipe from the sharpened blade.

"Take this!" John got back to his feet as Miranda charged the phantom, hurling a warp at him. The warp staggered the phantom, removing a large portion of his barriers. Then she let off almost an entire clip from her Kassa Locust, tearing apart the remaining biotic barriers. Before the phantom could prepare Miranda descended upon him in close combat, launching a high kick towards his sword arm and deflecting the weapon away. She then swung her right arm, with her omni-tool deployed as a stunning weapon, straight into the phantom's midsection. The hit buckled the light armour, blood spurting out from behind the fractured plating. Miranda finished him off with a head shot, immediately reloading her SMG.

"Wow, I'm never getting on your bad side again," John was truly amazed at her prowess, he hadn't seen her fight like that in close combat for a long time. The other phantom was descending upon them now, moving quickly. "Tali, EDI, open fire."

The two complied, Tali with her Geth shotgun and EDI with her own Kassa. The Quarian stopped for a second, deploying Chiktikka once more. The combat drone phased into view next to the phantom, distracting the trooper momentarily as he swiped at the annoying object. This gave EDI time to overload the barriers of the phantom, both of the squadmates finishing off the specialist.

"Shepard, dealt with the nemesis." Ashley's voice was followed by Tali's.

"Phantom down too."

"Good, lets go." Shepard took point once more, moving to the ladder. He ascended, all of the squad following. Miranda's voice carried through to him.

"I hate that thing just looking at us, as if it's haunting us." He could hear the shudder in her voice, wanting to console her immediately despite how strong she was.

"Well at least that's all it can do this time, I don't miss it's ham fists."

"I do miss your Heavy Cain though." He chuckled at her comment, a mini nuke would have been particularly helpful on some of their previous mission.

He began walking on the next level of the catwalk, following it around to the right. Ahead of them was another ladder, leading up to yet another level of the chamber. It seemed that they had to cover a lot more ground to get through to their destination.

He reached the top of the ladder, another bend ahead of him. He moved around the corner, seeing another Cerberus team positioning themselves by a final ladder ahead of him. A phantom jumped up onto the catwalk, joining the pair of assault troopers about ten metres ahead of him. A nemesis was hiding behind them.

"Form up, another Cerberus team." On his order the rest of the team rushed up the ladder, grouping together.

All six of them advanced steadily, targeting directly in front of them. Bullets, biotics, and tech powers catapulted forwards, colliding with the enemies. The assault troopers went down first, followed quickly by the phantom. The nemesis managed to get one shot off at John, removing a portion of his shields. She didn't last for more than another second, collapsing with multiple injuries.

John rushed forwards, heading straight for the ladder. He climbed upwards, followed by the squad. At the top was a door, a green locking mechanism in the centre. He opened it and walked through, emerging into a dark room. As he moved further inside the hum of servers was audible, created by all of the consoles around them. He noticed some medi-gel dispensers and ammo dumps ahead of them.

"Grab some spares guys, I think we're near the central operations room."

He walked forwards with some of the squad, picking up a grenade and some more medi-gel packs. He also checked his spare thermal clips, making sure that he was fully stocked. His preparations were interrupted by Miranda in front of him.

"My god," He turned to see her watching a console. "He's completely lost it now."

He walked over to her, seeing The Illusive Man on the terminal. He wondered what she meant, in his opinion the man had lost it a long time ago.

"Why's that?"

"He's only gone and had Reaper augmentation himself."

That did shock Shepard, he couldn't believe that The Illusive Man would be so foolish. It was a sure way to get indoctrinated, most definitely damming himself to Reaper control.

"That is ridiculous, I can't believe a supposedly intelligent man would do that," He shook his head, beginning to walk away from Miranda. "It could make him even more dangerous however, we have to be careful."

She nodded, the rest of the squadmates moving up to them. He raised his gun, gesturing for them to follow. Another door was ahead of them, a green light in it's centre. He opened it and immediately laughed.

"What's amusing Shepard?"

He looked back at Miranda. "I always knew he was a pretentious prick, but this is taking the piss."

John was referring to the room they had walked into. There was an immense stairway ahead of them, huge in size. The way that they lead up to Cerberus stamped doors ahead made the place look like the entrance to some sort of throne room, a rather dark and foreboding one.

"Clearly he fancies himself as the Emperor of mankind."

Miranda replied dryly. "Clearly."

They approached the door at the top of the stairs, all stopping. He turned to the squad, a serious look on his face.

"Be ready for anything, I have no idea what to expect."

He received nods from all of the group, the squad more than ready for whatever lay beyond. The doors opened, admitting them to a familiar chamber.

They were standing in The Illusive Man's personal sanctum, a room which Shepard had visited before though only through a QEC. He scanned around for enemies, his armour confirming that they were alone. He stowed his weapon and walked forwards to the chair in front of the view screen. He stopped after a few paces in the middle of the QEC projector, remembering all of the disagreements he had with the leader of Cerberus. He shook his head, looked up, and walked again.

He sat down in the chair, taking a brief moment to admire the star in front of him. It was particularly impressive, enticing those who looked at it with it's swirling inferno. Again John mentally chuckled at the Illusive Man's pretentious nature, clearly he thought he was the master of stars as well. Miranda came and stood by the side of the chair, resting a hand on the backrest. Shepard began typing on the keypad in front of him.

"We need to locate the Prothean VI." He was expecting to be answered by a squad member.

"Shepard," John jumped up immediately at the distinctive and superior voice, spinning around with his rifle drawn. Miranda performed the same motion. "Your in my chair."

To his immense displeasure it was only a holographic projection of The Illusive Man, standing in the QEC ring. He wore his usual suit with a customary cigarette in his right hand. There was no glass of bourbon this time, though a look of condescending nature was across his face as ever. Shepard lowered his gun, Miranda following suit. He sneered as he spoke, allowing his hatred of the tycoon to show through.

"This chairs about the only damn thing you have left."

Miranda continued in a similar tone. "Cerberus is finished."

The Illusive Man took a dreg of his cigarette, a small smile on his face as he replied. "On the contrary, we have achieved everything I ever imagined." He leaned forwards, the smile being replaced by a look of determination. "Almost everything."

"Yeah, we all saw what you accomplished on Sanctuary," John shook his head, still not able to believe that The Illusive Man had visions of controlling the Reapers. "But it's not the same as controlling a Reaper."

"A significant hurdle," The Illusive Man nodded in an almost friendly way. "But thanks to the Prothean VI I have what I need to make it a reality."

"The Catalyst." Shepard cursed inwardly. If the Illusive Man had left Chronos Station then it would only be for an important reason – personally recovering the Catalyst. The tycoon confirmed Shepard's suspicions.

"Yes."

"Even with Cerberus in ruins, you still think that you can do this your way?"

"I'd expect you to say that, you never truly believed in us," The blue avatar of the man folded his arms, the cigarette slowly burning in his hand. "Cerberus isn't just an organisation, or even the people behind it," He unfolded his arms and gestured towards Shepard, eyes burning with passion. "Cerberus is an idea, that idea is not so easily destroyed."

Shepard turned his head to check on EDI, the synthetic was typing at another terminal, trying to locate the VI. "EDI?"

"I've almost got it."

"EDI, I'm surprised at you" The Illusive Man's tone changed to one of disapproval, as a parent would berate a child. "Working so hard to bring about the Reapers destruction."

"Don't listen to the bastard." Miranda snarled from his right, taking a step forward. John knew how angered she still was at his manipulations and lies. The Illusive man ignored her, talking to EDI again.

"You could have destroyed Eva's body, but instead you chose to control it."

The synthetic glanced back from the display in front of her. "It was necessary."

The tycoon stood upright, smiling proudly. "My point exactly."

Miranda walked up to the projection, barely able to contain her rage. Shepard had never seen her this angered, not even on Ilium when they rescued her sister.

"How could you do this?" She was face to face with him, gun still hanging in her grasp.

"Letting emotions get the better of you Miranda? How unlike you," He took a final dreg on his cigarette before stubbing it out on an unseen ashtray. "Clearly Shepard has made you weak."

"What?" She scoffed in response. "You manipulated me and used me, just like my father, only to get your own purposes. Shepard showed me the meaning of true purpose, of what's really worth fighting for. And you dared to take that away."

"Your sister?" He cocked his head. "I wasn't involved with her, I couldn't care less about her or you. Though you would have proved an effective way to reel Shepard in should I have required it."

"I've got it." EDI's voice grabbed the attention of all of those in the chamber. In the centre a green image appeared, a rotating oblong with a circle in the centre. It appeared like the one Shepard had seen on Ilos, before forming into the image of a Prothean. It spoke with the same angular voice and accent as Javik.

"Online. Security breach detected."

"Enjoy your little chat," The Illusive man glowered at Miranda before turning and walking away. "But don't overstay your welcome."

Miranda glared into thin air for a few seconds before turning to watch the VI along with everyone else. The VI turned to regard all six of them before talking once more.

"You are attempting to recover me from indoctrinated forces."

Shepard nodded. "Yes, I need to know what the catalyst is."

"Security protocols overridden, I will comply," The VI paused for a couple of seconds, accessing it's memory banks. "The catalyst enhances dark energy transmissions and co-ordinates the entire Mass Relay network. In your cycle it is known as the Citadel."

"What?" This shocked him, gasps from the others in the squad audible as well. It seemed that the Citadel was not only the key to previous Reaper invasions, but perhaps the key to their destruction as well.

"The Catalyst is the Citadel."

Shepard gave the VI an incredulous look, it could have told them this on Thessia. "Why couldn't you tell me this before?"

"It was feared if the Reapers were aware of the Catalyst's intended use, they would retake control of it," The VI turned to face Shepard again. "I am prepared to withhold that information until the Crucible is complete."

Shepard nodded in understanding, understanding the need for a contingency plan. "It's as ready as it'll ever be, lets get it to the Citadel." He turned to walk out of the chamber, stopped by the VI's voice.

"That may no longer be possible."

"Why not?" Miranda asked the question, still standing over by the QEC.

"The one who broke through my security protocols, the one you call The Illusive Man, has flede to the Citadel and informed the Reapers of our purpose."

"Damn it." That confirmed this suspicions, Cerberus was fully under the Reapers control. There was no way back for The Illusive Man.

"The Citadel is in danger," EDI walked over to them, Miranda walking closer as well. "The Reapers will take control of it." The VI interjected straight away.

"They already have, the Citadel has been moved to the Reaper controlled space."

"Moved? Where?" Shepard had a suspicion that he could guess where.

"To the system you refer to as Sol."

"Earth," Somehow he knew that it would all end on Earth. They needed to act fast, he turned to EDI. "EDI, get me Hackett. He needs..."

He was cut off by an explosion colliding with the display in front of EDI.

"Not so fast."

Shepard turned around at the drawling voice, knowing who it was immediately. In front of him stood Kai Leng, the man who murdered Thane. The man who had stolen the VI from Thessia. The man who had tried to kill Miranda.

"You." Shepard fixed a glare at the assassin, filling his voice with pure venom. He heard another rather unladylike snarl from Miranda just behind him, sounding even more lethal than before.

"He did warn you not to overstay your welcome." There was trace of boredom and contempt in his voice, Leng was faced with six of the most dangerous soldiers in the galaxy but clearly thought he was a match for them.

Kai surged forwards with his right hand held aloft, slamming it down into the floor with a shout. The force of the impact caused the floor panels around him to fly upwards, exposing a trench like structure of vents and electrical wires underneath. Sparks flew from Kai Leng's armour, his shields being charged up to full strength. Shepard supposed that he was drawing power from the grid underneath him.

Then Leng rushed at John, screaming a battle cry with his sword held aloft. The assassin slashed his sword upwards at Shepard, the commander only just bringing his Harrier up in time to deflect it. Leng brought his sword back down in the same movement, Shepard swinging his rifle downwards for another parry. Leng then raised his blade over his head, slamming it downwards to complete his three stage attack. Shepard gripped his rifle in two hands across his chest, bashing it forwards against the sword. The two grappled, both pushing against the other with all their strength. Whilst Kai was quicker and agile, Shepard had more strength, gaining the upper hand and pushing their weapons upwards. He aimed a savage kick at the assassins midsection, shoving him out of the grapple. John moved up to press his advantage but Leng disappeared into thin air.

"Eyes up." The squad moved into a rough circle, covering every angle around them. There was an eerie silence in the chamber, faint explosions in other parts of the station audible.

Suddenly a purple flash flared in front of Shepard, rushing towards him and colliding with his armour. It was either a biotic or tech attack from Kai Leng, who had now become visible and was sprinting towards John. He didn't care what the attack was, all he cared was that it had removed his shields completely.

"This is better than Thessia." The assassin grinned as he taunted, now only a metre from Shepard. Leng jumped into the air, pivoting to aim a savage swipe at John's head. Shepard ducked down, the squad moving around him to face the assassin. The blade made a swooshing sound as it cut thin air, followed by a crackle as Miranda turned and launched an EMP blast. Leng's shields took damage, dipping slightly in strength.

"It's more personal," Leng ran past the group, stopping by The Illusive Man's displays. Again Leng slammed his fist into the ground, removing more floor panels and beginning to recharge up his shields. "And I have a rematch with dear Miranda."

"Look up!" Shepard followed Tali's call upwards, seeing that Leng's pulse had removed ceiling panels as well. A pair of assault troopers dropped down, flanking Leng and laying down fire at the squad. The assassin was immune to damage whilst he was recharging his shields, forcing the squad to target the assault troopers.

Ashley and Liara were down in the first set of 'trenches'. Shepard realised that neither of them were laying down suppressing fire, turning to see a squad of six troopers entering through the main doors. The human and Asari were engaging the squad.

"We'll hold them commander."

"Good," Shepard spun back around to face Leng, letting their rearguard hold the door. The Cerberus assassin stood back up, shields returning to three quarters strength. "Take down his shields."

Leng charged once more, taking a pair of EMPs and gunfire from the squad. He ignored it, shouting abuse as he ran.

"All your doing is making humanity weaker!" Shepard scoffed at this, taking a step forwards as he loosed a concussive round at Leng, he wasn't the one betraying his own race. Miranda was clearly of the same opinion, shouting in response.

"Well your using Reaper tech."

Leng reached her, aiming a viscous swipe. She impressed Shepard with her close combat prowess once more, ducking and sticking her foot out to trip him. Leng jumped the leg and raised his free hand to strike Miranda on his way down. His momentary focus on Miranda gave John the opportunity to move up behind him, slamming his rifle butt in Kai's back. At the same time Miranda jumped backwards, avoiding Leng's backhand. The assassin stumbled but quickly recovered, spinning low to hit Shepard's legs with his sword. Both Shepard and Miranda rolled backwards from him, EDI and Tali launching fire into him. Leng's shields took another dip, causing him to shout in frustration and run away from then. Kai clearly wasn't used to being contested in combat.

As Leng ran he passed Tali, sending a ranged attack at the Quarian. Tali's shields went down immediately, staggering her. The assassins sword flashed rapidly across Tali's chest, skimming across her exo-suit. This was followed up by a savage punch to the side of her head. John watched in horror as her body hit the ground instantly.

"Tali!"

He raised his rifle, aiming straight at his foe. Before he could fire Leng slammed his fist down once more, Tali's body flying a few metres away, landing awkwardly by The Illusive Man's chair. More floor panels flew away, three assault troopers and a nemesis dropping into the battle. Leng looked up at Shepard with an evil grin on his face, still crouching as his shields recharged.

"We evolve," He gestured to Tali's prone form with his free hand. "Or we die." Leng stood back up, twirling his sword in one hand. The troops next to him provided fire, forcing EDI, Miranda, and Shepard backwards to take cover in one of the destroyed floor sections.

"Shit!" Shepard cursed, angered by the situation. He was worried for Tali's health. His HUD informed him that she was alive but she may have had a suit rupture, and that could be fatal. There was no way to get to her, but luckily the enemy seemed to be ignoring her. A call from Ashley was heard.

"Phantoms, coming through the door, Liara's down. I don't think I can hold them." Shepard swore again, hearing a grenade going off in the background.

"EDI, help her out."

The synthetic nodded, moving smoothly out of cover and taking a long route around to avoid Kai Leng. The assassin ignored her, focussing on Miranda and Shepard – his prized foes.

"This is getting out of hand John, we need this bastard dead."

From her tone he could hear her own concern. She had subsided her anger, replacing it with controlled rage. John needed her to keep a clear head, he only had one crazy idea left.

"I know," He peered out of cover, seeing Leng walking slowly towards them. "You deal with the troops, I'll take Leng. His shields won't take much more damage."

She nodded, both rising together. She threw biotic attacks and SMG fire at the troopers, Shepard firing at Kai. The two men began moving towards one another, both gaining speed in a re-staging of Thane and Leng's encounter on the Citadel. One of the troopers shifted fire from Miranda to Shepard, the biotic dispatching him with a warp before he could do any damage.

Both Leng and Shepard were at full speed now, barely a couple of paces from each other. Leng had his sword poised, no doubt ready for another series of deadly attacks. As they closed Leng struck out at chest level, forcing Shepard to drop down and slide on his knees underneath the sword. This turned out to be a faint, Leng reversing his grip to jab backwards into the back of Shepard's shoulder. He felt agony as the blade bit deeply and stuck.

John tried to pivot and bring his Harrier into line, attempting some defence. He heard a chuckle from behind him, Leng walking slowly around to face Shepard with a huge grin on his face. The assassin stopped only a metre ahead of him, kicking the Harrier from John's grip.

"Is this the best you can do Shepard?" The drawling voice carried easily over the sound of intense gunfire surrounding them. Ashley and EDI were still busy holding the door, Miranda was nowhere to be seen and Liara and Tali were still down.

"How are the legs, getting tired?" Shepard managed to put some bite into his voice, not quite managing to keep the pain out. The sword was still lodged in his back, providing John with only one possibility. He just had to keep Leng talking. There was a sudden increase in the level of gunfire in the room, before it all died down, Leng didn't seem to notice however.

"You were still slow Shepard, just like Thessia." Shepard heard a distinct clicking noise, getting louder with each time it was heard. Leng didn't hear it, oblivious to any noise save his own, drawling voice. Shepard smiled at Miranda's timely arrival.

"Your still too cocky Leng."

At his words Miranda stopped behind Leng, powering up her omni-tool. She slammed it into the side of the assassins head, causing him to shout out in pain as he crashed to his knees. In one motion Shepard reached behind his back, grabbing the hilt of the sword. He tore it straight out, slinging it over his head and straight into Kai Leng's chest. Blood spurted from the wound on Shepard's back, but it was nothing compared to the torrent from Leng's chest wound. As the assassin collapsed to the ground, Shepard growled at him.

"That was for Thane you son of a bitch."

Miranda stepped over the body, rushing over to John. She tore open a medi-gel packet, rubbing it straight into his shoulder wound.

"Your back's taking quite the pounding today," She helped him to his feet, allowing him to lean on her. He looked around, seeing several N7 special operations teams entering. There was a mixture of all manner of aliens, even a Volus, lead by one familiar figure. "Seems that reinforcements arrived."

The Salarian captain inclined his head towards Shepard before speaking. "I see you held the line for long enough commander."

John chuckled at the line, soon breaking it off as he remembered Tali's injured body. He turned around to see EDI helping her up, Liara nursing a shoulder as she was helped up by Ashley. John breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his team patching themselves up.

"You OK?"

"I think I'm alright commander," Tali shook her head, swaying slightly as she shook of concussion. "A mild suit rupture, it'll be fine."

"Good, let's go."

The VI appeared once more, in the centre of the room.

"I will integrate with the Crucible's systems to help the docking procedure with the Citadel."

"Thank you."

"Perhaps you will succeed where we failed."

He shook his head at the VI, Miranda still helping him to stand up. "You didn't fail, you gave us a chance, and we're not done yet."

They squad left the chamber, a tech specialist from the N7 team moving to extract the VI. Kirahhe barked out orders for securing the station. Shepard didn't hear what he said exactly, he was already planning out his final night with Miranda.

**A/N Now then, off to do some "research" for the next scene - Heh heh... ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N Well, I've done my best with this chapter, though I wasn't expecting it to be this long. Writing smut is actually quite tricky, though I'm quite happy with it. If anyone has any modification suggestions then let me know. Also hope it's not too cheesy!**

Chapter 13 – Their Last Night

John walked into the cockpit of the Normandy, approaching Joker and EDI from behind. He nursed his shoulder as he approached, EDI turning around at the sound of his footsteps.

"Commander."

"EDI, Is the Normandy ready?"

"Yes," The synthetic stood up. "The Normandy is ready Shepard. All systems are armed, all ammunition is loaded and all re-loads have been manufactured. Thruster fuel is at maximum and cyberwarfare suites have evolved in ways that are computationally impossible to predict. I have also kissed Joker for luck."

John chuckled. "Good."

"We also took a look at the data from Chronos Station, Jeff found it most enlightening."

"Yeah commander," The pilot turned around in his chair to face John, a grin on his face. "Turns out EDI was the nutty VI on Luna that you took down."

Shepard's jaw dropped, he hadn't expected that at all. He remembered the fight particularly well, Ashley, Garrus, and he had come out with an awful lot of injuries – packs of rocket drones were particularly difficult to deal with.

"I was never 'nutty' Jeff."

"Well," Shepard laughed again. "You were quite a handful EDI, those rockets hurt."

"I'm sorry commander," EDI placed her hands behind her back, appearing almost proud. "I like to think that my relationship with organics have improved since then."

Joker chimed in rather dryly. "I hope that's true."

"It is EDI, you've been fantastic," There was absolute sincerity in his words. EDI had proved herself countless times since he first stepped aboard the SR-2, she had saved the lives of the crew many times. "What's our situation?"

"We are en route to our designated massing point, it will be eight Earth hours before the fleets are amassed and a further two before the assault will begin."

Wheels turned in Shepard's head, quickly forming a plan. He wanted to make a final round of the ship, that wouldn't take more than twenty minutes. He then needed ten minutes to prepare the Starboard Observation Lounge, leaving him seven and a half hours to spend with Miranda. There was no way he was going to waste a minute that he could spend with her.

"Great, thanks. I'll see you both later." He received a pair of goodbyes before turning and leaving the bridge. He walked up to Specialist Traynor.

"Commander."

"Traynor, hows it going."

"I'm OK commander, though it is surprising." He smiled at the words of the young communications officer. He had seen her develop from a young and timid girl into a much stronger and braver woman in a very short period of time. She had always been fantastic at her job, but she had discovered her fight or flight instincts over the months.

"Can you do me a favour?"

"Of course commander."

"Well," Shepard thought over how to phrase his request. "I'm making my final rounds now, it should only take twenty minutes. Afterwards, can you take any communications that are for me and give them to me in about eight hours from now. I don't really want to be bothered."

The young officer was sharp, giving him a knowing look. "Of course commander, I can give you and Miss Lawson some peace and quiet."

"You implied it Traynor," She laughed, amused at the banter. "But it has been an honour serving with you, your a credit to your uniform Samantha."

She raised an arm into a salute, drawing herself up proudly. "I had a very compelling example, commander."

He turned and walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the armoury. After half a minute the elevator doors opened, revealing the hangar bay. Steve and James were standing by the procurement interface talking.

"Loco," Steve turned to look towards Shepard. "Sticking it to that bastard Kai Leng must have felt good."

Shepard allowed himself a smile. "It certainly did."

Steve spoke up. "I just wish that we could have caught up with The Illusive Man before he escaped."

"You and me both Steve." John was concerned that they hadn't caught The Illusive Man, but he had a feeling that he would show up again before the end.

"Well at least we get to head back to Earth," James clapped his hands together enthusiastically as he spoke. "I've been asking for it, but I'm gonna make those Reapers pay for everything they've done."

John nodded, agreeing with the marines sentiments. He gave both Alliance troops a salute, receiving two in response. He turned and walked back into the elevator, heading for the next deck up.

John headed straight for Port Cargo, entering the misty room that Javik had taken over. As ever the Prothean was bent over, washing his hands in the strange liquid he had created when he first came aboard.

"Javik?" The Prothean turned his head.

"I am prepared for whatever lies ahead commander." Javik stood up, turning around to face Shepard. "There was no final battle against the Reapers in my cycle, a great moment lies before you."

Shepard bowed his head in response to the words. Regardless of Javik's imperialist views, Shepard often found himself humbled by the Prothean. He held a deep respect for Javik, he could only imagine the Prothean's situation. It was just another reason to despise the Reapers and everything about them.

John turned and left the room, surprising himself at how quickly he was getting around. He turned right into the engineering deck, seeing all three of the Normandy engineers checking systems.

"The Normandy's ready commander, just say the word and we'll get you to Earth," Gabby turned around to look at him. "And it's been an honour commander."

"Likewise Daniels."

Ken looked around as well.

"We're all behind you commander," The Scotsman had a look of determination about him. "I wish I was joining you down there though."

"No you don't," The mirth was audible in Daniel's tone, the pair yet again sounding like a middle aged couple. "You couldn't hold a gun to save your life."

Shepard laughed as he passed Adams, clapping the head engineer on the shoulder. As he left he caught Daniels and Donnelly sharing a quick kiss, again chuckling. He was happy to have gotten them together, glad to spread more happiness on the Normandy. He wondered where Tali was though, she wasn't at her engineering post.

John headed back into the elevator, taking it one deck up to the crew deck. He headed to the gun battery first, the doors opening to quite a sight. He discovered where Tali was, she was tightly pressed against Garrus. Both of them jumped apart at the sound of the door opening.

"Oh," Tali stammered, Garrus exclaiming just afterwards.

"Oh, we were just...uhm..."

"Uh, well," Tali was wringing her hands together nervously, Garrus shuffling awkwardly. Shepard was trying not to laugh at the sight. "I just...uh...came to say...goodbye and...well..."

"Uh," Garrus tried to pick up from her. "I think one of my mandibles got caught on her helmet and..."

"It might of caused a rupture," Tali looked at Garrus, Shepard raised an eyebrow whilst still trying to contain a laugh. "So I asked him to check..."

"Well...you know," Shepard suspected that Garrus was going the Turian equivalent of bright red. "Because of infection risks...didn't want to jeopardise the mission..."

"So..." Tali looked back at Shepard, still wringing her hands together. Garrus looked expectantly at Shepard.

"Yeah..."

"I'm really happy for you two," Shepard gave them a smile, seeing the pair relax at his approval. "Both of you."

"Appreciated," John heard a sigh escape Garrus as he responded. "Guess it helps to have something to come back to."

"What do you mean to come back to?" Tali's tone was one of suggestiveness, Shepard having never heard her in such a flirtatious voice. "This is just a fling Vakarian, I'm using you for your body." Despite his happiness for them he shuddered internally at her tone, It wasn't something he wanted to hear from someone he considered a little sister.

"You're so mean," Garrus was practically whispering as he responded. "And I'm OK with that."

Shepard slowly backed out of the door, leaving them alone. He turned and walked away quickly, heading for Liara's office.

Walking in he saw Liara hunched over her consoles, as usual. She looked up at him as he entered, giving him a small smile.

"How are you holding up Liara?"

"Nervous, frightened, anxious to go," She stepped back from the console as she spoke rapidly. "But glad I'm here, and I'm ready whenever you're ready Shepard. In fact I think I've checked my equipment three times already."

"Seven times Dr T'Soni." Glyph chimed in happily from the other side of the room.

"Stop me if I go for eight."

Shepard took a step towards her, laying a hand on her shoulder. He gave her a smile.

"We'll do this Liara, don't worry." She looked up, straight into his eyes.

"It's not me that I'm worried about."

John gave her a tight hug, giving her a smile after releasing her. Liara smiled in return, a hint of sadness evident. John knew her feelings towards him, but he had never seen her as anything other than a little sister alongside Tali. He did have a sudden strike of both inspiration and mischievousness though.

"You know, I just walked in on Tali and Garrus in the battery."

She raised an eyebrow in reply, clearly understanding his hint. "About time they realised."

"And," Shepard gave her a sly grin. "I got Daniels and Donnelly together, EDI and Joker too."

"Where are you going with this Shepard?" She gave him a curious look, putting her hands on her hips.

Shepard began to back out of the door, giving Liara a cheeky wink. "Javik's alone on deck four."

He walked out of the room laughing, walking over to the med-bay. Chakwas stood up to face him, opening her omni-tool.

"Commander, a quick check on that shoulder dressing if you please." He turned his back to her, taking off his T-shirt. She ran her omni-tool along it and then pressed a hand to the dressing, checking that it was secure.

"Is it OK Doc?"

"Once again I'm surprised by your healing abilities. Normally I would insist on no intense stimulation, but I can't really insist in this case, can I?." He popped his shirt back on, the doctor sitting down in her chair.

"Yeah, the Reapers won't wait for me."

"Well," The doctor gave him a wink. "I meant Miss Lawson actually."

"Ha," John chuckled before turning serious again. "You've been great through all of this Karen, even if I don't always listen to you."

"You've come a long way since those days under Captain Anderson," She gave him another one of her motherly smiles, a look of pride crossing her face. "It has been a great honour to be with you through this journey, I'm proud of you. Goodbye Shepard."

"Thanks Doc."

He left with a smile, heading around to his final destination, the Starboard Observation Lounge. Walking in, he wasn't surprised to see Ashley studying the gramophone that James had brought up.

"Shepard," She turned around to face him. "I assume this isn't for me."

"No, sorry," He chuckled lightly. "Could you do me a massive favour Ash?"

"Let me guess," She put one hand under her chin, giving him a look of mock thoughtfulness. "You want me to vacate so you and Miranda can have a romantic night in front of the stars?"

"Got it in one."

"Of course I don't mind," She began to walk past him, giving John a kind smile. "Regardless of what I have said in the past, you two are perfect for each other."

"Thanks Ash," She stepped out of the doors, stopping when he called her back. "Actually, can you give me a hand unbolting these benches from the floor? I need to grab some stuff from my cabin."

"Sure thing Skipper."

XXXXXXXX

The two Lawson sisters with in the Port Observation Lounge, relaxing on the sofas by the window. Miranda was greatly enjoying her time with Oriana, though she wasn't particularly used to lounging on sofas eating ice-cream. She smirked at that, Oriana had insisted that John bought some cartons for the Normandy crew – to 'improve morale' she had said.

"I'm surprised that you aren't with the commander Randa." Oriana gave her sister a knowing expression, a small grin on her face.

Miranda rolled her eyes at her sisters insinuation, giving her a disapproving look.

"Well, I wanted to spend some time with you," Miranda leaned closer to her sister. "Besides, I'm just waiting for him to call."

"Meaning?" Oriana cocked her head as she asked.

"Well," Miranda swallowed another spoonful of the strawberry ice-cream. "He's finished his rounds and has spent the last ten minutes dashing to and from the Loft. He's been busy moving things into the Starboard Lounge and he's kicked Williams out of there."

Oriana's jaw dropped. "How do you know all that? You've been sitting here with me for the last hour."

Miranda gave her a grin and tapped one finger on her nose. "I have my ways."

"But, how's he meant to surprise you?" Oriana put her empty bowl down on the table, adding an afterthought. "If you know exactly what's going on all the time."

"It's the thought that counts Ori," Miranda put her own empty bowl down. "And no one has ever given me nice surprises before."

Miranda ran a hand through her hair, reclining backwards once more. Her words were the complete truth. Before John no one had ever treated her kindly, ever the supposedly good men had only wanted their own desires fulfilled.

"You're going down to Earth aren't you." Oriana's voice had changed to one of concern. Miranda turned to look at her, seeing her younger sisters apprehensive look.

"I have to Ori, we need the best down there." Miranda placed a reassuring hand on her sisters arm, giving her a little squeeze.

"I know you're needed," Oriana gave her a sad smile. "And you have to stick by Shepard, keep him alive."

Miranda gave a small chuckle, once again impressed by her sisters sharpness. "I promised I would stay with him, and you're right. Someone has to keep him safe."

"Miss Lawson," EDI's synthetic voice rang out over the speakers in the room. "Your presence is required in the Starboard Observation Lounge."

Miranda stood up, seeing a grin appear on Oriana's features. Despite herself, Miranda began smiling as well.

"Have fun sis!" Oriana gave her a wink, causing Miranda to roll her eyes once more.

"See you later Ori." She gave her sister a wave before opening the door and crossing the Normandy to the other side. She stopped in front of the entrance to the Starboard Observation Deck, allowing another smile to cross her face. She stepped forwards and opened the door.

She noticed several things as she walked in. The first was that there was a bigger gap in front of the window, where there was usually seats. The gap was filled by a large quilt covered in a cream coloured furry throw that Miranda had never seen before. She chuckled lightly when she noticed that John had scattered some flower petals across the throw, touched by his sweetness.

She heard a slight scratching noise before music began to play. She heard an old style synthesizer begin to play, a light drum beat accompanying. She was sure that it was some form of rock, not really her style of music, but it was nice. Romantic even.

She felt strong arms snake around her waist, Shepard kissing her neck lightly before talking to her.

"Hey."

She replied whilst placing her hands on top of his own, resting them across her toned stomach. "Hey, this is nice."

"Just nice?" Miranda heard the playfulness in his tone.

"We'll decide later on," She put a hint of suggestiveness in her own tone. "What's the music?"

"Rolling Stones, Fool To Cry. I know it's not classical class as you would prefer, but I don't really have any in my collection."

"That's OK, I like.." Miranda trailed off as she turned her head to see the music's source. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the Gramophone. "John, where on Earth did you get a Gramophone from?"

"Oh, my mother sent it the other day. It arrived the morning of the party."

Miranda extracted herself from his grasp, walking over to the old item. It piqued her interests greatly, she had only ever seen one in her father's house. She had always been desperate to hear it playing, but he had never used it. Like her, it had been just for show.

"It's incredible John," Her words were an understatement, it was a beautiful antique. The brass bell section was a perfect colour of antiquated brass, maintained immaculately. The wooden base was some sort of durable material, oak most likely. The intricate workings in between were in perfect condition, clearly having been looked after meticulously. "Where did she get it?"

Shepard had walked behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist. "My father made it."

"Oh," Miranda wasn't quite sure what to say, she didn't know much about his father. When she had been running Project Lazarus Miranda had researched his immediate family, discovering quite a lot of information about his mother. There had been hardly anything about his father however, all she knew was that he was killed in action when Shepard was four. It was just another sign of all John had lost during his life. "It's magnificent."

"Yeah, mum told me a lot about him. I don't really remember him that much," He leaned his head against Miranda's, both letting the words of the song wash over them. "He had two main obsessions outside of his family and work. The first was old, mechanical items. Things like mechanical clocks, old car engines, gramophones. He loved the intricacy of them, the way that simple moving parts could work so beautifully."

He stopped speaking for a moment, remembering all that his mother had told him.

"His other obsession was visiting markets, not like on Ilium, but local markets with stalls selling all sorts of random bits and pieces. He used to go to as many as he could with my mother, when they weren't on campaigns, always on the look out for stuff. He would come away with a random collection of items that not even the seller knew what to do with."

Miranda poked him in the ribs, unable to resist a jest. "Now who does something similar?"

"Heh," He laughed before continuing his story. "When he got the pieces home it would become apparent what they were, even if it was months later. It would turn out that they were mechanical pieces of some sort, and he would put them together to make something incredible. Mum said that the gramophone took over three years to build, he completed it a few weeks before I was born."

"He sounds like an incredible man," Miranda spoke gently, rubbing the hand around her waist slowly. "Seems like you have some of his nature."

"You mean eccentricities."

She laughed. "Suppose so."

He chuckled too. "Genetics eh?"

She leaned in closer, thinking over his words. Neither said anything for a while, listening to the record playing. Shepard laughed softly again before speaking.

"Imagine if we had a child with your genius and my habit of blowing everything up, the galaxy would never survive."

Miranda stiffened at his words, immediately beginning to panic. She had been sure that they would stay together if they survived the war but they had never had the actual discussion of a life together, much less about children. Now Miranda's mind was going into overdrive, a war raging within. She didn't know whether to tell him or not, she couldn't be sure if he would still want to be with someone who was infertile. In fact, she didn't want him to have to be stuck without a family later on in life. She wanted him to have a perfect life.

"Shepard...I..." She stammered, unable to make any decision.

"I know Miranda."

She stopped, her thoughts crashing to a halt before racing up again. He wasn't talking about her condition, he couldn't be. No one knew about it, did they?

"What could you possibly know about?" She snapped at him without meaning to, letting her frustration at her situation get the better of her.

"Your infertility."

Now she definitely began to panic. She squirmed, attempting to get out of his grip. She wanted to run away, to hide from the shame. Despite her attempts to get free, he gripped her more tightly and pulled her into an embrace.

"It's OK Miri, it's OK."

At his words she stopped struggling, looking up slowly into his eyes. Her own eyes were slightly watery, betraying her emotions.

"How?"

"I read it," He raised a hand to her face, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear lovingly. "You remember the Shadow Broker's base?"

She nodded. There was no way that she would forget the base or the fight that ensured there.

"He had files on everyone on the ship, including you. I didn't mean to pry, I just wanted to know what he had on us all. Make sure there was nothing detrimental to the crew."

Miranda was shocked. She knew that the Shadow Broker could get lots of information, but that information should of been almost impossible to get hold of. She was still trembling slightly as she spoke again, she had to know his feelings.

"You've known for all this time?" He nodded his assent. Miranda gazed into his eyes, seeing nothing but adoration there. "And you still want this? Me?"

"What?" He exclaimed in disbelief, clutching her even tighter and pressing kisses to her forehead. "Of course I do, I want you more than anything else. Whatever else is just a bonus."

"You really mean that?"

He gave her a smile, wiping a tear from one of her eyes. "Of course."

She stared for a few more seconds before leaning forward to kiss him passionately on the lips. He returned the action, before pulling away after a few seconds.

"Thankyou John," She took a deep breath, still shaking lightly. "Your the nicest, kindest person that I've ever met. I just..."

He pulled her back into a tight hug, resting her head on his shoulder. She didn't say anything else, though in her mind she admitted what she had been suppressing for months – She loved John Shepard.

They stood there hugging for a minute more before she pulled away, walking over to the window to gaze into space. It was possibly their last night together, and she wasn't going to waste any more by crying over something that John didn't mind about. She had to repay him for his kindness.

"Do you have anything...more upbeat?" She put a hint of suggestiveness in her tone.

"Most definitely," She smirked at his enthusiasm, hearing the music cut out almost immediately as he changed the record on the gramophone. A familiar sounding guitar riff began to play through the record player, Miranda surprised that she recognised it. "Guns N'Roses?"

He gave her a wide eyed look. "Sweet Child of Mine. How do you know of them?"

She turned around completely, exaggerating the spin and puffing her chest out slightly. She raised an eyebrow, pouting slightly as she replied. "Maybe I am a rock chick after all," He smirked giving her a disbelieving look. "OK, it was part of a cover years ago – long story."

"Thought so." He smiled triumphantly, giving her a once over from head to toe. She began to tease him, providing a show for her man.

She started by running her left hand up from her hip slowly, tracing it across her toned stomach and then through her cleavage. She halted it over the zip by her neck, giving John a sultry smile. He was following her actions intently, eyes glued to her. She slowly brought the zip down, opening the suit all the way down to her waist. She pulled the front of the suit downwards, peeling it slowly from her skin and revealing her torso. Shepard was practically gaping at her now, recoiling in surprise at the garment she wore underneath.

"How the hell did you get a corset underneath a skin tight catsuit?" His voice contained both longing and amazement. She laughed, genuinely amused by his reaction.

"Needs must commander." She purred his rank as she shrugged the back off the suit. She removed the thigh sections of the catsuit next, taking the material off completely. She tossed it away, hearing a crash as it landed.

Miranda stood there in front of the window, entrancing the commander by slightly swaying her hips. She was wearing a black and red, skin tight corset with black laces down the front. Black panties with red lace designs were attached with two straps to the bottom of the item, straps from the bottom of the panties attached in turn to her thigh high boots. It was the most alluring outfit she had been able to procure on the Citadel, something she had been saving for a night such as tonight. It had been a struggle to get it underneath the catsuit, though she had persisted and succeeded.

No more words were said between the two as John closed the distance between them quickly. He crashed his lips to hers, passionate tongues duelling between their mouths. Miranda felt his hands begin to roam her body, both starting on her hips with one heading upwards and the other downwards. Her own hands cupped his jaw, holding their heads together. She pulled back slightly, deciding that he was wearing far too much clothing. Miranda brought her hands down from his jaw, gripping the collar of his plain white t-shirt. She suddenly, and without warning, tore her hands away and downwards, literally tearing the shirt off him. He gave her a look of feigned horror, causing her to smirk whilst appreciating his muscular body.

Their lips collided together once more, again Shepard's hands roaming Miranda's form. This time Miranda took her hands southwards, expertly working his belt buckle open. She pulled her lips away from his to crouch down, pulling his trousers with her. She noticed that he had already discarded his shoes and socks, they were lying underneath the gramophone. Miranda tackled him around the thighs, pushing him over to land on the furry throw he had put down. He laughed as he fell, Miranda smirking as she yanked his trousers off his legs and threw them blindly in the same direction as her catsuit.

She was about to attack his boxers when he grabbed her around the shoulders and rolled her over, pinning her down underneath him. In the move he accidentally wrapped her up in the furry rug, having grabbed it with his hand. She burst out laughing, soon followed by his own laugh once more. The chuckles died down, followed by silence as he stared intently into her eyes. She gave him a tender smile, turning it into a look of anticipation.

"Are you going to unwrap me?"

"I think I better." He reached under her, slowly pulling the - undeniably comfortable - rug across her to reveal her body once more. He gave her another approving once over, Miranda smiling happily at the attention she was receiving.

John reached underneath her again, Miranda knowing exactly where he was going. She arched her back in a catlike manner, allowing him access to the straps of her corset. He slowly undid the straps around the back, still staring intently into her eyes. John moved his hands from around her back, tracing them lightly down her front. He unhooked the straps from the corset to her panties, lightly brushing the skin around her belly button. It was slightly ticklish to Miranda, in a pleasant rather than amusing way.

He peeled the corset off her front revealing Miranda's bare torso. Her large breasts bounced slightly as he removed the clothing, Miranda's nipples becoming erect in the cool air of the room. Shepard leaned backwards, kneeling with his legs either side of her thighs.

"You're beautiful Miranda, you really are." He said this in a steady tone though Miranda could hear the emotion thick behind his voice.

"Thankyou John."

He leaned back down to kiss her tenderly on the lips, pulling back after a few seconds to plant another kiss just under her chin. He trailed kisses down her throat, something that always made Miranda tremble with pleasure. This happened now, she leaned her head to the side allowing him access to the rest of her throat. He obliged Miranda's subtle indication, spending a minute passionately kissing her sensitive throat.

After some time John retuned to moving down her body, running short kisses across her collarbone and chest. He reached the top of her breasts, ending his trail at the nipple of her right breast. He kissed it once, looking up at her after. She shuddered in pleasure, running a hand slowly through his short hair in a way of telling him to continue. He looked back down at the breast in front of him, returning to his administrations.

As he massaged and kissed her breasts Miranda arched her back, forcing herself closer to him. Before John no one had ever treated her quite like this, seeing to her needs before their own. He treated her body lovingly and adoringly, in a way that only a true lover could. Miranda made a note to do the same to him later on.

John sat back up, giving a look at Miranda's boots. She gave a laugh, that was one thing he always struggled with.

"I'll do the boots."

She sat up, removing the clasps along the back of the thigh high boots. Miranda pulled both of them off, throwing them lightly to her right. Then John put a hand on her chest pushing her back down. He resumed kissing her where he had left off, on one of her breasts. He moved down her toned stomach, stopping for a few kisses on her belly button. Then he moved further south, stopping just above her now moist folds. He gave her a smile before removing her panties and descending.

She exhaled as he began to lick around her most sensitive area. John trailed his tongue around her labia, Miranda becoming increasingly moist at his administrations. She shuddered as he continued for another minute or so until she cried out as he changed tactic. He spread her lips with two fingers and inserted his tongue directly into her folds, aiming straight for the nub in the centre. She arched her back once more as he attacked her folds, intense pleasure radiating from her lower areas.

After a few minutes of John licking and caressing her folds she felt a pressure building up inside. A few seconds later she climaxed, crying out his name as she did so. She sat up immediately, pulling up his head and kissing him passionately and deeply. She felt her orgasm subside, a warm and fuzzy feeling settling in her abdomen.

She pushed him down onto the rug now, pulling John's boxers down his legs and discarding them. His member was already rock hard, pointing proudly up into the air. Miranda straddled John, and gave him a look of desire before impaling her mouth on his erect penis.

He gasped as she began to move up and down on his shaft, stroking his member with her right hand. Her left lay on his thigh, massaging his leg affectionately. She began to increase her pace, Shepard running his hands through her hair as she did so. She could hear his moans, a slight feeling of pride entering Miranda's mind at the state she could get him into.

After several minutes of this treatment she could feel John's member twitching in her mouth and throat, his breaths becoming increasingly erratic. Miranda knew he was getting close to his own climax, increasing her pace and beginning to massage his sack. After another thirty seconds or so he moaned her name loudly, his member pulsing deep in her throat. She felt large amounts of fluid being ejected into her, the strong and salty taste overpowering her. She pulled off his member coughing slightly, another spurt of semen catching into her mouth before pulling off completely. Miranda swallowed the contents of her mouth happily, licking around her lips.

Miranda returned her attention to John, seeing absolute desire cross his face. She rolled off him as he began to stand up, John pulling her into his arms. She turned around, fully losing herself to her own desire, and braced herself up against the window of the viewing deck. In front of Miranda was the beautiful backdrop of space, blue shift light running across the Normandy. She felt John approach from behind, feeling his lips against her neck once more and his member pressing against her backside.

She bent down slightly, one palm splayed on the window, and reached around with another arm, lining John's member up with her folds. He gently pushed into her wetness, Miranda moaning softly as she raised her head.

"OK?" Miranda heard him whisper just behind her ear, his ragged breath also evident. John always did this, starting slowly and checking that she was comfortable. Once he got going however...

She replied to him by pulling her hips forward, leaving only the tip of his member within her, and then pushing back into him. He took her cue and began to move his own hips to penetrate her. John increased his pace steadily, both of them settling into a quick rhythm. Soon they were both moaning in time with one another, John raining kisses on Miranda's neck in a loving nature.

Miranda's mind went blank of almost everything, forgetting the Reapers, forgetting the war. There was just her, John, empty space, and the long forgotten vinyl which had moved onto another track. She felt absolute pleasure from her womanhood, his erect member stimulating her in every way. If she was to die the next day, it would be only after having loving the most special man in the galaxy.

Several minutes passed before Miranda felt another climax building, stronger than the one before. Shepard's breathing became more ragged once again, his thrusts becoming more erratic and powerful. Now he was gripping her backside tightly, only adding to the immense pleasure she felt. Their passion was now at a high, Miranda letting off a yelp as John picked her up. He spun her around, still impaled on his member, and crashed down on top of the rugs. John placed his hands on her hips, helping Miranda to move up and down his shaft, resuming their coupling.

They reached their climaxes together both crying out one another's name, they didn't care if the crew heard them. Miranda felt his manhood pulse again, copious amounts of his seed spurting into her. Her own body shook, pleasure overriding every other one of her senses. She collapsed onto his chest, their sweat glistened bodies tightly gripping one another. His member softened but remained inside of her, Miranda's body still trembling slightly as it slid out. She caressed his chest, kissing him lightly. He kissed her forehead in response.

"That was just..." He trailed off, his ragged breathing beginning to subside.

"Wow?"

"Yeah," He chuckled. "Miri, I.."

She silenced him by reaching up to give him a deep kiss, stroking underneath his chin with one hand.

"Shh now."

"Why?" He gave her a cocky look, raising one eyebrow.

"You need to prepare for round two!"

She laughed loudly as he suddenly rolled her over, raining kisses down upon her once more. They lost themselves once again, happily exploring one another's body comfortably on the floor.

XXXXXXXX

John woke up to an amazing sight. Miranda was draped fully across him, her legs dangling in between his own. Her head rested on his chest, a light smile playing across her face as she slept. He had one hand resting on her hip, the other intertwined with one of her own on top of the furry throw. He began to lightly rub her hip with his hand, Miranda's eyes slowly opening.

"Hey you."

"Hey," Her voice was slightly deeper than usual, husky from sleep. "What time is it?"

"Hang on," He rolled them over lightly, placing Miranda on her side. He stood up, stretching out as far as he could with his arms. John walked over to the table with the gramophone on it. He checked the clock on the table, he had set it to count down to two hours before the assault and it now read zero. "We've overslept a little bit."

"Aw," Miranda sighed sitting up in the throw. "Can you chuck me my catsuit?"

"Sure you don't want to fight in that corset?" He spoke in a suggestive tone.

"Very funny John." She gave him a slight grin in response.

Shepard walked over to the pile of clothes, noticing a problem.

"You do have a spare one right?"

"Why?" She cocked her head as she looked over to him.

"Well you threw both the catsuit and my trousers on the bottle of wine that we forgot to drink."

"Ah," She put her head in her hands. "I had always wondered what it would look like in red."

He laughed at her deadpan humour, picking the soaked pieces of clothing up in his hand. "We can't go back upstairs these, but I don't think that anyone will be looking."

"John!" She gave him a look of alarm. "I'm not going out of here in just a bloody corset!"

He put his boxers on, standing up and walking over to her slowly. He had a smile on his face, Miranda giving him a suspicious look. Without warning he jumped down, wrapping her up in the rug and hoisting her up in his arms.

"If there's people about outside..."

"Relax Miri," He gave her a kiss on the forehead before opening the door. "There won't...Oh...Ah..."

"You ass John..." Miranda buried her head into his chest, bright red with embarrassment.

In front of them, standing by the memorial board, was the entire ground crew with Admiral Hackett in the centre. Most of the squad members were doubled over laughing, Hackett merely raised an eyebrow. Garrus finally stopped laughing long enough to speak.

"And we conclude your tour of the Normandy with her ranking officer Admiral." The Turian broke down again, clutching his chest.

"Shepard, we're almost ready to begin the assault." The Admiral was able to retain a large amount of professionalism, despite the appearance of Shepard and Miranda in front of him.

"Uhm...sure. I'll just...uhm..." Shepard began to carry Miranda to the elevator, Hackett moving out of the way to allow him past. As the doors closed the pair heard the Admiral speak.

"And that's who we're trusting the galaxy to."

Then John smiled, hearing more laughter lead by the Admiral himself.

**A/N I just had to add that at the end, it was an idea I had suddenly the other day.**

**Now – Earth...**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N So, here's the first section for Earth. Thanks again for all your feedback on the last few chapters - enjoy.**

Chapter 14 – Approaching the FOB

"Commander." Hackett saluted, Shepard returning it as he walked out of the elevator. He was now actually dressed, having left Miranda preparing in their cabin. He smiled at that, their cabin.

Shepard returned the salute, stopping in front of Hackett. "Admiral."

The Admiral drew himself up, clasping his hands behind his back. "Are you ready to bring the might of the galaxy to bear on the Reapers?"

"Yes Sir." Hackett extended his hand, Shepard shaking it.

"Then lets make sure the fleets are ready."

Traynor began to type information into her terminal, various lights flashing on the Galaxy Map. Hackett walked up to the command dais, standing bolt upright with his hands once more behind his back. He spoke in his chiselled voice, a stern and commanding tone carrying to millions of soldiers across the galaxy.

"Never before have so many come together, from all quarters of the galaxy. But never before have we faced an enemy such as this. The Reapers will show us no mercy, we must give them no quarter."

The entire of the crew had their heads turned, watching Hackett intently.

"They will terrorise our populations, we must stand fast in the face of that terror. They will advance until our last city falls, but we will not fall. We will prevail."

Shepard felt a hand slip into his own, seeing Miranda next to him. She gave him a slight squeeze and a smile before turning her attention to Hackett.

"Each of us will be defined by our actions in the coming battle. Stand fast. Stand strong. Stand together. Hackett out."

He stepped down from the dais, approaching the two. Miranda's hand shot out of his immediately, Shepard amused at how professional she was in front of superiors.

"Miss Lawson," The two shook hands, Miranda slightly red in the cheek. Shepard guessed she was still a bit embarrassed from earlier. The Admiral gestured to Shepard, the pair walking to the entrance to the War Room. Miranda did not follow them, instead approaching Traynor to talk.

As Shepard passed through the scanner he gave the Admiral an apologetic look.

"Sorry about earlier Admiral, it was a bit..."

"Shepard," Hackett fixed him a stern look as he was scanned. "We all need something to fight for, and from what I've heard Miss Lawson is worth it."

"She is Sir."

"Good," The two walked past the meeting room as Hackett began to relay the battle plan. "The Sword fleets are ready to strike at the Reapers surrounding Earth. While they keep the enemy engaged, you and Hammer ground forces can take London."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, it wasn't the plan he was expecting. "London? Why aren't we hitting the Citadel directly?"

They entered the QEC room, a hologram of Anderson appearing. "Anderson can brief you on that. Admiral, how are you holding up?"

A grim smile crossed Anderson's face. "We're ready to end this, but as you can see – the station has closed itself since it appeared over London."

A hologram of the Citadel appeared next to Anderson, the image closing it's arms to represent what had happened. Shepard shook his head, cursing.

"Damn it. Got to get the arms open to dock the Crucible."

"Exactly." Hackett propped his chin on one hand, intently studying the image in front of them. Anderson spoke again.

"But London is surrounded by Hades cannons, Hammer transports can't land while they're active," Anderson gestured at John. "You'll lead a squadron of smaller shuttles. Infiltrate with a ground team to take out the cannons using heavy weapons. Hammer can land, and then we'll set up a Forward Operations Base."

Shepard furrowed his brow. "I still don't see how we're getting to the Citadel from London."

Another image replaced the one of then Citadel, three spiky pillars were arranged in a triangle. By the information displayed next to them, they were huge.

"The Reapers use this Beam to transport humans, both dead and alive, to the Citadel," John took a pace forward, studying the diagram. "From the FOB, Hammer will launch an all out assault on the Citadel Beam," His tone dropped. "Everyone who makes it that far will take the Beam to the Citadel, then locate and activate the Citadel arm controls."

"Once we see those arms, Shield fleet will escort the Crucible to the Citadel," Hackett furrowed his own brows. "But timing will be critical, we don't have enough fire-power to keep the Crucible safe for long."

Both Admirals faced Shepard, waiting for him to say something. He chuckled humourlessly, it was a mad plan. "Nothings ever easy. No reason for it to start now."

"It's desperate," Anderson shook his head. "I don't even want to guess at our odds, but..."

"But this is the only plan we have. Conventionally," Hackett sighed, removing his hand from under his chin. "We can't defeat the Reapers without the Crucible. Get the arms open commander."

Hackett began to walk out, stopping to speak. "Whatever the cost."

"Yes Sir." Shepard knew the importance of his task, there was no other plan to defeat the Reapers/ There was one price he wasn't going to pay however, though John kept his mouth shut in front of the Admirals. Hackett spoke once more before leaving.

"Good luck, to all of us."

XXXXXXXX

Shepard walked up, approaching Joker's chair from behind. He was fully armoured, his Revenant and a Claymore shotgun attached to his N7 armour.

"Approaching the Sol relay commander. We're though in thirty seconds."

The blue shift around the cockpit began to increase, a slight juddering felt through the ship. Then the entire deck jolted, signifying the Normandy's transition out of FTL. Earth was seen in front of them, rapidly growing in the view screens. Even from this distance immense balls of fire could be seen, showing vast cities being annihilated by the Reapers.

Then Shepard saw various images lighting up on screens in front of him, showing the fleet passing through the relay. It was an incredible sight, one that would be forever glorified if they survived. Every angle behind the Normandy was full of ships, all sizes from all races. Giant lumbering Dreadnoughts of the Turians flew next to the more graceful Asari warships, Alliance cruisers flying in perfect formation with Geth and Quarian frigates. Despite what lay ahead, Shepard felt pride rising in his chest. Pride at the galaxy for finally putting aside it's differences, for giving their civilians a chance of survival.

"Alliance fleets reporting, Turian fleets reporting, Asari fleets reporting, Quarian and Geth fleets reporting, bet you never thought you'd hear me say that," Joker looked up at him with a grin. "All fleets reporting in, ready to engage on your command."

Shepard turned his attention back ahead, the bigger Reapers now visible to his eyes through the windows. They were turning and forming up, rushing straight towards the allied fleet. Shepard curled his lips into a snarl, he was ready to end this.

"This is it everyone, be ready on my signal." He glanced at a range indicator on his right, counting down until the main weapons of the gigantic Dreadnoughts were able to fire. The light hit green, Shepard letting out a sigh before speaking.

"Fire."

Flashes of light exploded all around the Normandy, tearing from the housing on various Mass Accelerator cannons and hurtling towards the Reaper lines. The brilliant, cyan lights collided with the front rank of machines, explosions visible from the behemoth's forms. Shepard doubted that many would have been destroyed in the opening volley, but they could begin to weather down the enemies shields and armour.

"On my command, engage the Reaper forces." Shepard sent the order to the various fighters in the fleet. He was answered by the commander of the fighter forces, an ace pilot whom Steve Cortez had recommended for the job.

"Roger that, all fighters on me."

Tiny craft shot past the Normandy, like the bigger ships there was a large variety from all of the accumulated fleets. They formed up just beyond the Normandy, arranging themselves in swarm like formations.

"Attack!"

"Acknowledged."

Jets of light shot from the rear of the fighters as they accelerated together, streaking towards the Reaper lines. They tangled with their rivals, Occuli drones, and immediately began a vicious dogfight. By now the capital ships were entering close range for ship combat, the Reapers having advanced just as aggressively as the allies.

The Reapers began to open their tentacles, red orbs of light charging up along their battle line. Then they fired, spoilt for target choice because of the huge volume of ships in front of them. The allied fleet scattered, breaking off into pre-arranged wolf packs. Their aim was to delay the enemy by injuring the capital ships with the hunting packs, allowing the Dreadnoughts finish off the targets from long range. It was still a high risk strategy, one Reaper could annihilate several cruisers on its own.

"Breaking off, preparing for descent."

Shepard nodded, turning around to walk through the CIC and head to the shuttle. He stopped when he heard Joker call out.

"Commander," He turned to see the crippled pilot haul himself out of his chair. Joker raised his hand into a serious salute, not a trace of sarcasm in his body. "Be careful down there."

"We'll be fine," Shepard returned the salute, giving his pilot a smile. "Stay focused."

"Aye aye."

XXXXXXXX

John looked around the shuttle, giving a glance to each of the squadmates. In return he received a series of amused looks, every member of the squad trying not to burst out laughing.

"OK, what's so funny?"

All of the squad looked up at him, smiles creeping across their faces. Then Garrus couldn't hold it in any longer, bursting out laughing.

"Sorry," He clutched his ribs. "It was just too good an opportunity to miss."

"Hmm," Shepard fixed him a glare. "I was wondering what reason Hackett would have to be on the crew deck."

"So, you weren't just trying to show yourselves off?" Ashley cocked her head, speaking in a teasing tone. "Your clothes actually ended up soaked in red wine? Really?"

"Yes," Miranda replied through gritted teeth, still not quite at ease of the teasing of the squad. "And the idiot here thought there would be no one else about."

"Still," Liara leaned forwards, placing her hands under her chin. "You're a deceptively cute pair, especially with Miranda wrapped up in a rug."

Shepard wasn't quite sure who started laughing first, but soon all of them were in stitches, even Miranda began to laugh. It showed the renewed friendship between the squad, though it also hinted at some nervousness from them all. Nobody could deny the pressure on the group.

Soon the laughter died down, replaced by a quiet mumbling as the team members began conversations of their own. Miranda leaned in closer to Shepard, whispering into his right ear.

"By the way, I never apologised for ripping your shirt apart."

He chuckled, turning his head to whisper a response. "Well, I always said you're a bit of a tigress in bed."

She laughed, nuzzling his ear as she quietly growled in response. "Grr."

"Commander," Cortez's voice came through. "We're entering the atmosphere now, and we're gonna take some heavy fire. You better hang on."

"Got it Cortez. Everyone, strap in."

He felt a lurch as the shuttle dropped into the atmosphere. Colossal explosions became audible as the first wave of Hammer began to land. The shuttle flew on though, a view screen on the side of the wall switching on to reveal images of the surface of Earth.

"My God, is that even Earth?" Ashley's face was one of horror, James had a similar expression.

The pictures were horrific, scenes of incredible destruction. All of the buildings were damaged, missing windows, doors, and even walls. The streets were lined with rubble from the buildings, mixed in with occasional wrecked vehicles. Shepard shook his head sadly, guessing that there were many dead bodies underneath all the mess.

"Shit!" Cortez's shout of alarm came from the cockpit. "We've got a lock."

John unstrapped himself and hurried into the cockpit. He stumbled as the shuttle banked to the right, avoiding the shot from the AA cannon. The shuttle flying next to them wasn't so lucky however, taking a direct hit and exploding in mid-air.

"That was the shuttle designated to take down the cannon." Cortez was still wrestling with the controls.

"Who else is on the Hades?"

"No one in this area, all shuttles are deployed or shot down." John cursed, realising that they would have to deal with it themselves.

"We'll have to do it," He turned and walked back into the main hold, receiving questioning looks from the squad. "Change of plan, we have to take down the Hades."

"And how do we do that?" Ashley stood up, loading up her rifle.

Cortez called out from the cockpit. "There should be heavy weapons in the wreckage of the other shuttle."

"Got it, Lets go."

The shuttle landed, Garrus opening the door. Shepard sprinted out first, followed by Miranda and the others. He ran straight towards a small section of wall, taking cover from an overwhelming amount of fire from the enemy.

"I can't stay here, I'm taking fire." Shepard could hear the strain in Cortez's voice.

"Get out of here Cortez, we'll meet up by the wreckage."

"Roger that."

The shuttle took off, Shepard glancing around to take stock of the situation. They were all hunkered down behind cover, a small hill ahead of them. At the top were many cannibals, marauders leading them. They were laying down a heavy barrage and there was no way the squad could leave safely. Shepard thought quickly, coming up with a plan.

"Grenades up the hill on three," Ashley, James, Javik, and Shepard all readied grenades, priming them for impact. "One, two, three!"

A series of explosions went off above them, the cocktail of grenades dealing tremendous damage. A whole series of red lights on his scanner blinked out of existence, Shepard deciding they should make the break.

"Go go go!"

They vaulted over the cover in front of them, heading up the small hill. At the top there was more cover, a small set of stairs ahead of them. They couldn't go further forward however, another wall several metres in front was lined with half a dozen Reaper troops.

"Lets..." Shepard was cut off by a huge noise, the ground trembling and throwing them all to the ground. In front of them the gigantic Hades cannon braced, a deadly white beam firing out of the top. The trembling kept them on the ground for about three seconds before it abruptly stopped, the Reaper troops popping out of cover to fire immediately.

Shepard dragged himself to cover, loading his Revenant with an inferno mod. Looking at his scanner he could see that they were surrounded, countless enemies homing in on their position. He peered over the top of the cover, realising exactly where they were. Big Ben was in front of them, surprising him that it was still standing. Next to it was the offending Hades cannon, completely immobile once more In front of them was a square of sorts, surrounded by buildings. It was crawling with enemies, a mixture of cannibals and marauders. John reckoned they would be OK if they got a foothold in the square, they just had to pass the gun wall in front of them.

"Grenades again, stagger them along the wall," He reached for another grenade. "One, two, three."

Again a line of explosions went off in front of them, hurling Reaper troops from the wall.

"Move!"

They all rose up from their current positions, moving into the square beyond the wall. Shepard looked left to see two marauders still alive from the grenade attack. Shepard stitched fire across them, decimating what remained of their health.

"Take cover, defensive perimeter."

The squad complied, forming into a ruff circle. Shepard was between Garrus and Miranda, facing the Hades cannon. A cannibal crossed into his sight, going down as Shepard shot three rounds into it's head. A nearby marauder took an EMP from Miranda before a sniper round from Garrus removed it's head.

Shepard leant out of cover again, firing a concussive round at a pair of cannibals running towards them. The round knocked both of them flying, Miranda finishing them off with fire from her SMG. As this happened a voice came over the comm.

"This is Captain Johnson, Hammer's getting torn apart. We need those guns offline now!"

As if to emphasise her words the Hades cannon fired again, shaking the floor once more. It was followed by another voice, Cortez's this time.

"Watch it, you got brutes."

Shepard cursed as he heard the familiar roar, looking to his right and seeing one jump out from an office building. Another one could be seen behind it, loping towards them. He didn't really fancy going toe to toe with any again, but it looked like there wasn't a choice.

"Incineration blasts on the brute, now!" He swung his rifle around to cover the area that Miranda would leave open.

"Yes commander."

EDI and Miranda complied, the synthetic moving up from her position by Javik. The two blasts collided with the great beast, causing heavy damage to it's torso armour plates. Shepard tapped Garrus on the shoulder, gesturing to the brute. The Turian understood his meaning, spinning around and aiming his Kyrasae at the brute. He squeezed the trigger, launching a mass reactive round into the wound in it's torso. It screamed as the round exploded, tearing it's chest apart even further. Shepard finished it off with a concussive round into the wound, the beast rolling over and dying noisily.

By now the other brute had closed, hurling a wrecked skycar out of it's path as it entered the square. The squad formed up behind him, by now having managed to clear the area of enemies. Ashley and James drew grenades without needing to be asked, hurling them just in front of the brute. They exploded beneath it's legs, temporarily covering it in clouds of smoke and dust. It charged out of the smoke with a roar, running towards them. Gunfire and biotics stopped it in its tracks though, the body of the beast dropping just behind the first one's corpse.

The captain's voice came across the comms once more. "Two guns down, but we still can't land."

Shepard narrowed his eyes, looking around for the crashed shuttle. The wreckage was on top of the building the brute had crashed through and there was a ramp upwards to the top level. He began to run towards it, the squad following him closely. As they approached the ramp half a dozen cannibals emerged from various grates and vents along the building, scrambling out of the rubble. The squad easily dispatched them, Shepard moving up the ramp as the last body dropped.

"Commander," Cortez's voice came over the radio. "You've got airborne hostiles inbound. I'm gonna try to keep them off you."

Shepard turned to see the shuttle soaring past, clumsily weaving between buildings. A harvester was in pursuit, firing relentlessly at the rear of the shuttle. A pair of shots struck on it's aft, explosions lighting up the far side of the shuttle.

"Damn it, I'm hit."

"Steve!" Shepard shouted in a moment of slight panic, not sure if they were about to lose their pilot.

"I'm alright, but I'm not going to be able to pick you up." Shepard cursed, there weren't many other shuttles available for extraction duties.

"Just get safe."

"Anything for you." The transmission cut off straight away. Shepard looked over at Miranda who gave him a raised eyebrow, an amused look on her face. Shepard shrugged in return, he didn't need to protest his heterosexuality.

They rounded the corner, emerging on the roof top of a building. It was a rectangle in shape, lots of half demolished walls criss crossing along the top. Cannibals and marauders swarmed the area, emerging from ducts and air vents around the roof.

Shepard looked straight to his right, sighting the wreckage of the shuttle dead ahead. A ravager sat in front of it, slowly bringing its powerful cannons around to face them.

"To the shuttle, break off as we go. Vega on me!"

He began to run, hearing acknowledgements in response. It was a technique he had perfected when fighting with a bigger squad during the Collector mission. Shepard would lead the charge with the others in tow, groups of squadmates breaking off every few metres to form rear guards. Garrus and Ashley broke off almost immediately, breaking out their snipers for covering fire. Liara and Tali stopped a few metres further on, Javik, Miranda, and EDI stopping just after.

By now Shepard and James were closing on the ravager, both drawing their shotguns. The blue, laser like, targeting system of the ravager locked onto the men quickly. Heavy cannon fire traced across their armour, damaging their shields. The two carried on regardless however, both leaping over a gap in the floor of the building. James shot first, burying pellets into the sacks underneath the ravager's body. The sacks exploded, covering the area with pungent brown gunk and releasing tiny swarmers.

Shepard shot next, his round hitting the ravager underneath its body where the sacks had been. The injury caused the Rachni to jolt backwards, screaming out in pain. It tried to get a lock back on to him but Shepard rolled to the left, grabbing a grenade from his belt. Getting back to his feet he threw the grenade forwards, rolling backwards out of the blast radius. His grenade attack worked in two ways, taking out the ravager and all of it's spawn.

John reloaded his shotgun and placed it on his back, scanning the wreckage with his eyes. He caught sight of one of his favourite weapons, a Heavy Cain. He picked it up, turning around to face the Hades cannon.

"Form up, defensive positions."

Garrus, Ashley, Liara, and Tali left their gun line positions, joining the other three in a defensive ring around Shepard. James stood to their right, holding off enemies climbing the side of the building.

John charged up the nuke launcher, bracing his legs apart for its immense recoil. The barrel of the weapon glowed a bright red as it spun, the Cain shaking slightly in his hand. Then a warhead erupted out of the barrel, a popping sound emitted as it was launched. The warhead hurtled towards the Hades, curving upwards, and then streaking down into the maw of the great cannon. For a second nothing happened, then there was a colossal explosion accompanied by a bright flash of light. The upper section of the Hades blew apart, large chunks of it flying in all directions around it. The captain's voice came over the comm again, almost straight away.

"That's it, last gun down. Hammer, prepare to land."

Shepard threw away the used Cain, removing his Revenant from his back. He looked around, checking their situation. They were now stuck on the building, wave after wave of cannibals appearing. They could hold out, but not for too long. He put out a general communication, hoping to pick up someone.

"Come in, anyone. This is Shepard, we need an extraction." There was no reply.

He slid into cover next to James, popping up and taking out a cannibal with a concussive round. The marine next to him shot another cannibal who had exited cover nearer to them. To his left, Miranda leaned out from behind another wall and shot an EMP at a marauder. The creature was slammed off the edge of the building by Javik, dropping out of sight.

Shepard tried the comm again, widening the bandwidth of his call. "Anyone, this is Shepard. We need..." He trailed off at the scream of a banshee, the creature itself appearing on the other end of the building. Another scream was heard, a second banshee appearing next to it. Then a third climbed upwards, followed by a forth and a fifth.

"Holy shit!" James turned to look at Shepard with a horrified expression on his face. "We're fucked at this rate!"

Shepard agreed, they were in a grave situation. They couldn't fight that many banshees, let alone all of the other Reaper troops. He looked around them desperately, looking for something, anything. His desperation was answered, John spotting something in the wreckage behind them. He pulled the item from under a door panel, revealing a second Heavy Cain. Finally, some luck was on their side.

"Stand by team." Both James and Miranda turned to look at him, looks of shock on their faces.

"Are you fucking nuts Loco?" James shook his head as he spoke, though Shepard agreed with his point. It was practically suicide to shoot a nuke at this range, the banshees were only about fifteen metres from them. There was no other choice though, fighting conventionally would also be suicide.

"Don't you bloody dare John Shepard! John for god's...Oh fuck it, just don't miss." She glared at him as she cursed in resignation, Shepard chuckling at the first time he had heard her swear so violently.

"Take cover." He stepped forwards, looking for a suitable impact point. Shepard was aware of an exchange between Garrus and Tali, though he was busy aiming for a wall just behind the last banshee.

"He can't be serious."

"He won't...Oh keelah, he's going to do it isn't he?"

"Spirits save us..."

Shepard charged up the device, narrowing his eyes at the particular wall he wanted to hit. He reckoned it was far enough away to avoid killing the entire squad as well as the banshees. The warhead shot forwards, Shepard diving behind cover as it left the housing, straight at the point he had been aiming for. The nuke detonated savagely, tearing apart the close area around the impact point. The noise was incredible, dust and debris flying past them.

Shepard peeked out of cover, looking at the devastation he had caused. With the exception of the walls they were behind there was nothing left of any other rubble, having been annihilated by the blast. There was also nothing left of the enemies, Shepard assuming they had all been disintegrated by the explosion.

The squad came to stand near him, a whistle audible from James. Javik laughed, chuckling darkly at the scene. Miranda merely rolled her eyes at Shepard, opening her omni-tool to try and communicate to any nearby Alliance forces. A second later her head perked upwards, Shepard realising that she had heard something. Then he heard it too, a whine of an eezo core getting louder. Then a shuttle came into view, bearing Alliance colours. It hovered by the end of the building, the door opening to reveal an Alliance soldier with an Avenger rifle.

"Commander!" Shepard followed Javik's exclamation, seeing more cannibals coming from behind them.

"Let's move!"

The squad began to run towards the shuttle, jumping in one by one. Shepard jumped in last, the Alliance soldier now providing covering fire against rapidly approaching enemies. The man slammed the door shut, shouting to the pilot.

"Get out of here corporal," He looked at Shepard. "Well, I've never thought of using a nuke as a flare. Are you OK though?"

"We're alive."

"That you are commander." Shepard turned at the sound of the familiar voice, seeing David Anderson walking out of the cockpit. He felt a great sense of relief at seeing the man relatively safe, Anderson had been a father figure to John for many years.

"Anderson."

The Admiral smile at him, spreading his arms out wide. "I knew you wouldn't let me down commander."

Shepard walked forwards, clasping hands with the man. They embraced in a warriors hug, clapping each other on the back.

"Good to see you."

"You're a sight for sore eyes." Shepard laughed at Anderson's joke, taking a closer look the Admiral wasn't in such a good state himself.

"How are we looking?"

"Now that the heavy air defences are dealt with, Hammer can land."

The other soldier spoke out, Shepard noting his British accent. "And not a moment too soon."

"What's left of the resistance is holding the Forward Operations Base," Shepard turned back to Anderson. "But the Reapers are countering already. Once we regroup its gonna be up to Hammer to take up the fight."

Shepard agreed with that, the soldiers who had remained on Earth had been fighting continuously for months. They couldn't be expected to give any more than they already had, he expressed his views to Anderson.

"It must have been brutal here, cut off from the rest of the Alliance."

"It's been touch and go from day one," Anderson nodded his assent. "But once we figured out the Reapers were focusing on the major population centres, it became easier to avoid direct contact."

The other soldier spoke up. "Until London."

"Yeah, we held back as long as we could, sending recon teams. Lost a lot of good men planning this assault," Anderson shook his head sadly. "But with soldiers like Major Coates, and knowing you'd bring help...We held on."

Shepard looked the Admiral in the eye, speaking with absolute sincerity. "Without you and your resistance, we'd be dead in the water."

"Yeah," Major Coates stood upright, regarding both the Admiral and Shepard. "The Admiral's being modest. He's the reason any of us are still alive."

"Lets not start handing out medals just yet," Anderson held his hands up, a small smile crossing his face. "This fight is just getting started, and Hammer better be ready for it."

Shepard took a moment to think, recalling all that had gone on to band the forces together during the war. From the battles on Tuchunka to the Morning War he had fought both the enemy and politicians tooth and nail, trying to unite a force for Earth. Now that force was ready, having put aside their differences for the sake of the galaxy.

"They didn't start out together, but they're ready to stand side by side and win this war."

"Good," Anderson turned around, looking at a view screen displaying images of the shattered streets below them. "That's what its gonna take."

Shepard walked over to his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get it done Anderson."

The Admiral paused before talking, replying in a much lower tone. "I was born in London."

That surprised John. "Really?"

The Admiral turned back around, clearly avoiding the question. "The entire galaxy united...Too bad it took the Reapers to bring us together."

Miranda walked to stand next to Shepard, a look of absolute pride on her face. "Shepard did that, nothing and no one else."

"That's exactly what I meant," Anderson held his hands up in a way of apology. "I know you didn't like leaving Shepard, but nobody could've accomplished what you've done."

Shepard decided not to answer that, he wasn't so convinced of that statement.

Major Coates spoke up. "There's the FOB."

"Looks good," Anderson turned to Coates. "Give Hammer the all clear."

The shuttle touched down, the door opening to reveal a busy cross road. Lots of soldiers were moving around, shifting weapons and shoring up defences. An Alliance soldier walked up to them as the group left the shuttle, speaking directly to Anderson after giving a salute.

"Admiral, we've set up a command centre in the building ahead."

Anderson followed the officers gesture, putting a hand under his chin. "Looks like we've still got groups coming in."

"Yes sir," The soldiers gaze dropped. "But not as many as we'd hoped."

"Hmm," Anderson clearly agreed. He turned to Shepard. "Come see me when you're ready Shepard."

Anderson left the group with the other officer, inspecting data on a data-pad. The squad stood and watched the troops below them, Miranda walking up to John.

"I assumed there would be more of Hammer here by now."

Shepard stared off into the distance as he spoke mournfully. "A lot of them won't be making it."

Miranda kissed him on the cheek, whispering as she did so. "It's not your fault John."

He gave her a sad smile, not completely convinced by her words. He turned to regard the squad, addressing them all. "You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

The team members all nodded before walking over to a ladder and descending into the base. Miranda stayed for a second, placing another kiss on his cheek before leaving. Shepard watched her walk off before turning, seeing Major Coates walk over to him. The officer stood next to him, both veterans watching over the preparations.

"The fighting here has been some of the worst on the planet," Coates turned his head, Shepard still looking onwards. "It looks bad, but there's still hope. And you're here, it'll do the troops good to see you. Bolster their resolve."

Shepard looked at the Major, shaking his head. He knew what the man was implying. "I'm just a soldier like them."

"You might see yourself like that, but they don't. Like it or not commander, you're a hero to these men and women. Don't discount the effect that can have on them," The officer gave a salute to Shepard. "I better go meet up with my battalion, I'll see you at the command centre."

As the soldier walked off Shepard stayed for a few seconds, thinking over what Coates had said. He knew what people thought of him, he knew that he was an inspiration to many of the troops in the Alliance. He didn't want it to be that way though, he didn't want to be an idol for anyone. In his opinion the men he had left behind on Earth were the true inspirations.

He turned around, walking over to the ladder. He wanted to find all of his squad, to speak to them all one last time. To say goodbye before the end.

**A/N OK, I may have gone a bit OTT with the banshees, but its much cooler to kill a hoard of them with the other Cain than just one and a bunch of cannibals. **


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N This was actually quite tricky to write, but I think it's OK. Let me know what you think. Also I do have my ending idea sorted, I think that it's a cool idea - but I'll let you guys judge that.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 15 – Goodbyes

Shepard turned around from the ladder he had just descended, walking out of the ruined building that the shuttle had landed in. In front of him a group of Alliance soldiers were firing at the enemy, flashes of light coming from the muzzles of their Avenger rifles. A shuttle flew over to them, hovering across the entrance to the compound. It lowered a gigantic crate down, another soldier guiding it into place. As he got closer he realised that the crate was actually just one of many, creating a large wall several metres high across the road. The group of soldiers cheered slightly, clearly trying to see a little bit of positivity in the dire situation.

Shepard saw James Vega standing near the wall, drilling a group of marines next to a MAKO. He walked over to the marines receiving salutes from them all in return. James turned to regard him as he walked over.

"Hey commander." Vega's tone was surprisingly depressive, Shepard was surprised at James, he had seen the man angry but never dejected.

"What, no Loco?"

"Yeah," James laughed slightly, shrugging at John. "Sorry."

Shepard was now a little concerned by James' odd behaviour. "You OK?"

"I don't know what I thought I'd feel coming back to Earth. I was ready to fight, ready to die if I had to," James gestured at the ruined streets surrounding them. "But seeing everything like this..."

Shepard nodded, understanding the marines mindset. James had been born and raised on Earth and it must be shocking to see the extent of the damage. Though it was terrible John knew that they could restore the devastation, if they could beat the Reapers that was. He looked down the street away from them, gazing towards the Citadel Beam as he spoke.

"I know it's hard to see, but this is only temporary. But first we need to win this thing," He looked back to the marine. "Stay focused, don't let them take your will to fight."

"I know, I know, you're right" He held his hands up in an apologetic manner before looking back down again. "So, I guess this is it no? One more push. One last fight."

John gave him a smile. "Not necessarily our last."

"So, we all going on this one?"

Shepard thought about that for a while, should he take all of his squad? He knew that it would be sensible to take them all, to give them a better chance to reach the Beam alive. But for some reason he didn't want to do that. In his mind there were only two people that he felt should accompany him. Besides, everyone else would be needed back on the Normandy – she already had an understrength crew. There would be shuttles taking casualties and civilians from Earth to the fleets, he could send the rest of the squad back. He would have trouble convincing one of them though...

"No James, the Normandy is under crewed as it is," The marine nodded in understanding. "With Steve gone there isn't anyone to run ammo to the guns, especially the Thaix."

"I understand, and I'm guessing Scars is coming with you."

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind." The last thing Shepard needed was a disappointed crew.

"Of course not, we all have to do our duties," James' reaction was relieving for John, the marine giving Shepard a smile. "Its been an honour serving with you Shepard."

The two shook hands, clasping each others wrists. "You're a good man and a terrific soldier James."

"Thanks."

"Whatever happens out there today," Shepard gave him a smile. "I know you'll make me proud."

"That means a lot to me sir." The marine raised into a salute, John returning the gesture. "Good luck out there...Loco."

John gave him another smile before turning and walking off, leaving the lieutenant to return to the marines in front of him. He passed a bank of MAKOs on his left and right. A group of marines were huddled around a communicator, relaying information to other command posts. The exclamation of a Scotsman stopped Shepard from walking on.

"What? Repeat your last!"

A female voice came from the communicator. "Kensington outpost, one hundred percent confirmed killed in action."

Shepard closed his eyes, shaking his head sadly at the news. The casualty rates were staggering and each death minimised the chances of Hammer succeeding. It was more the amount of deaths that bothered John though, that could well have been a couple of thousand people wiped from existence in just one area of the city.

"Shepard."

At the sound of his name he looked up, seeing Ashley ahead of him at the corner of a building. He shook of his reverie, heading over to her. He could tell that she had been listening to the casualty reports as well, a mournful look on her face too.

"How are you holding up?" He didn't really need to ask to know how she felt.

"Restless, everything depends on this," She looked up at him. "Think we have a chance?"

A week ago he would have said there wasn't, after Thessia all his hope had vanished. Now there was a chance, a rather slim one, but still something. "There's always hope."

"Feels like a thousand years since we met on Eden Prime." Her voice was slightly hushed, eyes glazing over in thought. "So much has happened, it's hard to figure out how we got here."

He agreed with that statement, it was such a long time ago. In reality it had only been around four years since he had first seen her holding her own against Geth drones, but he had done almost everything since then – even died. Though, thinking about it, there was only one reason why Ashley was still alive.

"Your a survivor Ash, always were."

She chuckled. "I hope you're right."

"I am, and that's why I want you with me on this."

She gave him a look of surprise. "Who else is coming?"

"Garrus, it'll be Citadel Tower climb take two."

She gave him a nod, Shepard pretty sure that she was reminiscing about that fierce fight. The three of them had fought long and hard, through Ilos and then through the station, to come face to face with Saren. For John taking these two just felt right, symbolic even.

"One more hill to take lieutenant commander. You ready?" He began to walk off, seeing her grin in the corner of his eye.

"Aye aye captain."

Shepard looked to his right as he walked, seeing an Alliance tech officer through glass doors in the building next to Ashley. Shepard walked in, noticing a QEC next to the officer. The tech looked up as John came up to him.

"Commander, if there is anyone you'd like to contact you can use the QEC."

"Thanks, I'll do that."

John walked up to the QEC, scrolling through the control panel. There was a list of other QEC devices and the people who could be reached through them. He scanned for people he knew, selecting the first name he recognised – Jacob Taylor.

After a few seconds the man appeared in the QEC ring in front of John, folding his arms as he saw who he was speaking to.

"Shepard, that you?"

"Jacob, holding up?"

"Kicking ass more like," Jacob chuckled and dusted his hands in a cocky manner as he spoke, giving Shepard a grin. "My kill count's through the roof."

He wasn't surprised, there were plenty of enemies to go around. "We'll meet and compare notches when this is over."

"You got it," Jacob laughed again. "There's this great little bar in Rio, we have to check it out."

It sounded like a good idea, the only time John had ever had the pleasure of going to Rio was to train at the N7 Villa. That had been far from a vacation. "I'm holding you to that. Give 'em hell Jacob."

The ex-Cerberus officer raised an arm in a salute. "Yes sir."

"Shepard out."

He looked back down at the control panel, scrolling through more options. The next name he found was Grunt's.

The massive Krogan appeared standing sideways in the QEC ring.

"Bout time you got here Shepard," The Krogan spread his arms out wide as he turned around. "Didn't want to win this thing all by myself."

John was happy to see Grunt fully recovered from his injuries, though he should probably have been more concerned about Grunt recovering from his hangover from the party. "Good to see you back in action Grunt."

Grunt leaned forwards, dropping his tone as he replied. "Wouldn't miss it."

That was most definitely true, he could imagine that Grunt was particularly looking forward to a big and glorious fight.

"Shepard?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," Grunt leaned forward again. "For getting me out of that tank."

Shepard stopped for a second, finding himself thinking of yet another 'what if' situation. What if he had never gotten Grunt out of that tank, what if he had even given him to Cerberus? He shook his head of these thoughts, the last few years of his life was a whole catalogue of what if decisions.

"Sure Grunt, it's been an honour."

"Same here Shepard," Grunt stepped back and gave him a nod. "OK, Grunt out."

The blue form disappeared, Shepard again returning to the list in front. The next person he recognised was Samara, a surprising revelation. He hadn't been sure whether she would make it to Earth, she had been busy defending civilians across the galaxy after securing the monastery.

Her form appeared, turning gracefully to face him.

"I wondered if I'd see you again Samara."

"It's past time I joined your battle," She bowed her head respectfully. "You helped me a great deal at the monastery Shepard."

He bowed his head in return, a gesture that they had come to represent both thanks and respect between one another. "Thank you for returning the favour."

"Only your actions will be remembered, may you chose them well," Samara paused for a couple of seconds, studying Shepard intently. "Farewell."

As her form disappeared Shepard noticed another name on the list, breathing a sigh of relief. It appeared that Cortez had made it to another outpost alive and well, giving Shepard one less concern. Steve's form appeared almost immediately.

"Commander, you made it." Cortez appeared relieved as well.

"Glad I can say the same about you Cortez, I've come to far to lose my pilot now."

"I apologise for that, things got too hot. I thought maybe I could do another run and head back around. Well," Cortez stopped for a second, shaking his head a sighing. "Not one of my finer moments, if I'd been flying my Trident things might've been different."

Shepard stopped him there, knowing how Cortez often dwelt on his mistakes. "What matters is we took out that AA gun."

Steve nodded. "Absolutely, and the Reapers are next."

"That's the idea."

"It'll happen, I'm just glad I could play a part. And commander," Cortez gave John a look of gratitude. "Thanks for making me believe again, if you hadn't...It helps to have a reason to live again."

Shepard smiled back at him. "Stay sharp Cortez."

"Yes sir."

The next name John found was Jack's, the woman appearing in her new attire.

"Shepard? Shepard is that you?"

"Jack, how are you guys?"

"Good so far," She rolled a shoulder, rubbing it with a hand. "We're aways south of your position. We saved some resistance fighters with barrier support. Bringing a bit more firepower your way."

That proved that her students were indeed well trained, a testament to Jack's apparent natural teaching ability. She had grown incredibly as a person, getting over some of the issues from her traumatic childhood at the hands of Cerberus. He had been sure that there was a kind natured woman underneath the criminal exterior when he had first met her, it was just getting to her that had been difficult.

"I'll see you on the other side."

"I won't let you down. Go kick some ass."

"You too."

Her form disappeared, Shepard a little surprised at her mild use of profanities. She had indeed changed. The next person on the list was Zaeed though, the grizzled veteran would probably have a few choice words.

"Almost thought you weren't going to make it Shepard, I was wrong."

"You doing OK Zaeed?"

"Yeah, yeah. Hope you've got one hell of a speech to get everyone moving," Shepard hadn't thought about that, though he probably should have something planned. The mercenaries gruff tone dropped, mirroring Shepard's thoughts. "Looks like we might need it. Never seen anything like this."

"We don't stop it now," Shepard shook his head, knowing the mercenary probably understood the situations of war better than any of the officers of the Hammer forces. "It gets worse."

"No kidding. Just doesn't feel like a real ground war when your opponents are taller than god-damn skyscrapers," Zaeed stepped forwards, growling over the communicator. "Still, no use talking about it. Ready to go when you are, lets gut the bastards."

Zaeed's snarling form vanished, Shepard calling up Kasumi's in his place.

"Hey Shep, you ready down there?" She folded her arms as she spoke.

"Depends on whether you've got the Crucible good to go.

"Oh, it's ready," She gestured extravagantly, speaking in her jovial voice. "No idea what it'll do, but it's gonna be big. Good luck Shepard, if you live through it – drinks are on me."

He chuckled as her avatar vanished, it seemed that he would receive lots of drinks if they got through this. There were no other names on the list that he recognised so he thanked the tech before leaving, walking right out of the door.

There was a large ramp made out of rubble, emergency lights illuminating the way. He reached the top of the ramp and turned left, arriving into a room full of Turians. Garrus was liaising with an Alliance officer so John didn't interrupt. He was surprised by the presence of one Turian though, who was lounging against a wall.

"Primarch Victus, I didn't realise you were here."

"I wanted to return the favour in person. Though I'm sorry to see your world looks as bad as ours."

Shepard nodded his thanks, seeing that Garrus had finished with the Alliance officer. He walked over to his old friend.

"Shepard, I guess this is..."

"Just like old times?" Shepard finished his sentence with what had become Garrus' catchphrase.

The Turian laughed before speaking. "Might be the last chance we get to say that."

"Think we're gonna lose?" Shepard had been giving his own opinion to everyone else, but if there was anyone who could tell him what would happen – it was Garrus.

"No, I think we're about to kick the Reapers back into whatever black hole they crawled out of," His tone changed to a lighter one, slightly jollier in nature. "Then we're going to retire somewhere warm and tropical and live off the royalties from the vids."

"I'll meet you there," Again it was another promise of the possibility of peace, something that Shepard had to admit he wanted. "I think my days of saving the galaxy are over when this is done."

"Be sure to leave room for all the autographs."

"Ha," Shepard shook his head. "Just need to beat the Reapers to get there."

"James told me there's an old saying here on Earth – May you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead," Garrus gave him a grim Turian smile. "Not sure if Turian heaven is the same as yours, but if things go sideways and we both end up there...Meet me at the bar, I'm buying."

"We're a team Garrus," Shepard pointed a finger at him, he knew where Garrus was going with this. "There's no Shepard without Vakarian, so you better remember to duck."

"Sorry, Turians don't know how, but I'll improvise. And Shepard," Garrus leaned forwards. Forgive the insubordination but this old friend has an order for you...Go up there and.."

"Garrus, stop," Shepard put a hand on his shoulder. "Save your anger for the Reapers, I want you with me on this."

"Citadel Tower mark two?"

"Yeah, except instead of chasing a crazy Turian," Shepard punched Garrus lightly in the shoulder. "There'll be a crazy Turian doing the chasing."

With that he walked off, leaving Garrus laughing. Shepard passed through a door, emerging onto a second floor barricade lined with guards. Shepard moved along the walkway but was stopped by a shout from a marine.

"We got hostiles on the perimeter," The officer pointed at Shepard. "Get on that gun."

John ran to the gun in the middle of the walkway, steeping up to the dais and loading up the massive weapon. In front of him a MAKO hurtled out of the darkness, its back section on fire. The vehicle crashed into a lamppost, the cockpit now bursting into flames. Husks ran from the same direction as the tank, cannibals emerging from the right of them.

He zoomed in the aim on the approaching husks, depressing the trigger of the turret. His body shuddered at the immense recoil as the gun fired, rounds streaking at the husks. Their bodies were torn apart by the shots, falling as they took fire. Shepard turned his aim to a group of cannibals, taking them out as well. The small fire fight lasted for about half a minute before the whining of an eezo core could be heard. An Alliance fighter dived out of the sky delivering a precise air strike to the entire area in front of the base. No more enemies appeared and so John stepped back from the turret, receiving a nod of thanks from the officer before walking off the bridge.

He emerged through the doors of the walkway, entering an impromptu med-bay. Liara stood in front of several beds with casualties on, scanning them with her omni-tool.

"How are the casualties?"

"They haven't brought in many more wounded." Liara didn't turn around, still working on her omni-tool.

"If we can get them to the Normandy would it help?"

"Yes," She closed her omni-tool. "Dr Chakwas can do more for them than I can."

"Well, I'm sending back some of the squad. Can you help these men back," Shepard thought for a moment, having another idea. "Also communication is difficult down here, can you adapt your network to help us out?"

"I can do that Shepard, I won't let you down." She was still not looking at him, staring dead ahead.

"How are you holding up Liara?"

She didn't answer for a second, when she did it was in a slow voice. "This is it, isn't it?"

"Yeah," He walked closer to her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "This is it."

"I don't know what to say, I just know I'll have a clever line five minutes from now," She turned to him, giving him a nervous look. "I do have one thing for you Shepard, a gift. It'll only take a moment, if you want it."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember when I first joined my consciousness to yours?" Shepard nodded, remembering the strange sensation of when she had tried to read the message from the Prothean Beacon after receiving the Cipher on Feros. "I can show you some of my memories, Asari exchange them sometimes. With their friends, or the people they respect," She lowered her head. "It can also be to say farewell."

He gave Liara a smile, realising that this was something very important for her. "I'd be honoured."

She stepped forwards, holding his hands in her own. She breathed out slowly, speaking in a calm voice. "Close your eyes."

He did as she bade, relaxing his mind as he remembered was necessary. He felt the tug of the mind meld, Liara's consciousness pulling along his own. He opened his eyes, not to the ruined buildings of Earth, but to somewhere that looked like space. Stars were dotted around the pair, twinkling in the blackness. He could see Liara but he could also feel her, able to sense her emotions underneath the surface. She was nervous and scared but there was hope there, hope brought about by him he realised.

To his right a thin line of light appeared, growing bigger like the sun on the horizon. It was an enchanting sight that rushed towards them. Liara leaned into his shoulder and he put an arm around her shoulders, letting her memories wash over them.

Then it was gone. He opened his eyes to the medical area of the shattered building and Liara was stood in front of him holding his hands. She dropped them and gave him a small smile.

"Thankyou for everything," He nodded and began to walk past her, Liara calling back out to him as he walked. "And Shepard."

"Yeah?" He spun his head around to look back at her.

"Tell Miranda how you feel."

He nodded again before leaving her with the casualties, picking up an extra grenade from a nearby pile. He walked out of the room, passing a marine giving instructions to a civilian on a radio. She sounded scared as she spoke, the marine calmly telling her what to do. Shepard walked on quickly, unable to stand hearing yet more deaths.

He turned left through a door to see Wrex standing on a precipice looking down. The clan chief was giving a speech to a host of Krogan below him, recounting great victories of the Krogan people. Shepard didn't want to disturb him and walked over to Javik who was standing next to a gap in the wall.

"Commander." Javik did not turn around, he was intently studying the ruins of London with the Beam in the distance.

Shepard could imagine that Javik was used to the sight, he had only ever lived through times under the Reaper's shadow."Was it this bad in you time?"

"Worse," Javik abruptly changed the topic, clearly not wanting to discuss the matter. That didn't really surprise Shepard. "I have been listening to the Krogan speak to his men. In our cycle the races never came together, there was no rallying cry. I envy you."

That did surprise Shepard. "Really? There's not much out there."

"The future is still out there, it is something my people could never say: There will be a tomorrow."

That was surprisingly positive from Javik, more so than Shepard had ever heard before. It sounded like the Prothean thought they could actually be victorious.

"Only if we win today."

"No one else has made it this far."

"You came a long way Javik," Shepard gestured around him. "Further than anyone else here."

"And I look forward to fulfilling my mission," Javik turned to regard Shepard, pointing at him. "But you are now the avatar of this cycle. The exemplar of victory," Javik took a step closer to John. "Not just for humanity, or Turians, or Protheans – but for all life. Every soul that has ever existed is watching this moment."

Shepard thought about that for a second, letting out a sigh as he thought of the magnitude of Javik's words. A victory over the Reapers would not only avenge the dead of this cycle, but of all the cycles that had occurred. The numbers of the Reaper's victims was immense indeed.

"Well, no pressure when you put it that way."

"Do not waver," Javik took another step forward, giving his final instructions to Shepard. "Victory is never won without difficult choices."

"I know," He shook his head sadly. "I've had to make a lot of those."

"There may be more. But I know you will see this through for all of us, no matter the cost." Javik extended his hand, offering it to Shepard. It was yet another indication of how far the squad had come together, the Prothean now had great respect for the races of this cycle. Shepard shook Javik's hand.

"Javik, I'm sending most of the squad back to the Normandy," He gave the Prothean a serious look. "I'm giving you command of the ship."

"Me?" For the first time Javik sounded a little unsure.

"As you say, hard decisions may be needed. You won't baulk at them."

The Prothean nodded his head, understanding what Shepard was hinting at. None of the others would be able to leave the trio behind if they were in command, Javik was the most capable of being objective in that situation. Shepard decided to leave the conversation on a happier note.

"If we actually pull this off, what will you do afterwards?"

"Maybe I will see what a life of peace has to offer," Javik took a step back. "Dr T'Soni has suggested writing a book, a may take her up on her offer."

"Javik, I think that's a great idea," He gave the Prothean a smirk. "Though she may want more than just a book off you."

He left Javik in a slightly bewildered state, heading over to Wrex who was finishing his speech. As the Krogan beneath him cheered and shouted he looked over to Shepard.

"Shepard, you did it. No matter what else happens today, you did what no one else could – you united a galaxy. And don't worry, I know why you're going to win," Wrex gave him a big grin. "Because you brought the Krogan!"

John shook his head in an amused manner, leaving Wrex to give another speech. He walked up another ramp of rubble, passing through a guarded door. He emerged into what could only be the command centre. Desks with tactical maps were dotted around the room with officers standing around and discussing over them. Miranda and EDI were in conversation with Major Coates and Anderson in front of him. Shepard saw Tali over to the right and walked over to her first. She turned around and spoke before he could.

"Almost time for the final push. Are you OK?"

He had expected her to be in a similar mindset as Liara."I thought I'd be asking you that question."

"Shepard, I backed you when I was a kid on her Pilgrimage. I backed you when the Normandy was a Cerberus ship," She spoke in an exasperated tone, shaking her head at an apparently stupid notion. "What kind of a friend would I be if I deserted you now. And you haven't answered my question, are you OK?"

"You remember how you felt when you landed on Rannoch?" He walked past her to what used to be a window and gesturing to the ruined city and the Beam beyond it. "Now imagine it's not a story passed down by your people. Imagine you were there just a few months ago."

She nodded in understanding, Shepard had known that she would understand his metaphor. "And now you're seeing it like this."

He looked back out to the city. "We need to put it right."

She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We will."

"Thanks," John turned back to her and gave Tali a smile. "A shuttle is going back to the Normandy, do you mind going back? The engineers will need you."

"Of course Shepard, but," She looked down. "I know you'll take Garrus. Look after him."

"I will Tali."

He left her working on her omni-tool and walked over to Anderson's table. EDI was no longer in conversation so he walked up to her, the synthetic hearing his approach.

"Shepard, I have a question."

Shepard chuckled lightly, finding her quest for knowledge amusing at times. As long as she wasn't asking about his love life, that was an awkward conversation.

"Is it big or small?"

"It is important," She fixed him as serious look. "Its relevance would be diminished at any other time."

"Ask away."

"In this battle, the Reapers have no reason not to use their full capabilities to destroy us. Their forces are in entrenched positions, they have superior fire power and outnumber our forces," Shepard realised where she was going with this. "My question is: What makes you think we can reach the Conduit at all?"

John knew that she was looking for the logic in the situation, regardless of how human she now was she still thought in logical patterns. "The Reapers have the Citadel. They think they've won and that's the best time to hit them."

"If they have spies or other intelligence we could lose the element of surprise. In such a case, we will likely lose."

Shepard was slightly shocked at her words, it seemed like she was genuinely fearful of death. He spoke to her in a kind tone. "Are you afraid?"

"Our probability of success is greater than any other plan presented to date."

Shepard noted that she had avoided his question so he repeated it. "That's not what I asked, are you afraid?"

EDI hesitated. "I do not understand the purpose of the question."

John realised how she must be feeling at the current moment. She had only been experiencing true emotions for a few months but she had been exposed to an extreme range of them. EDI would be experiencing the same fear that everyone here was feeling, but it was likely that she wouldn't fully understand what these feelings were. He put the situation in clear black and white for her.

"There's no room for doubt anymore EDI. You understand what we have to do or you don't."

"I am clear on what me must accomplish Shepard. The Reapers have destroyed thousands of civilisations," She paused for a second, a look of determination crossing her artificial features. "But they have never destroyed ours, nor will they."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," He gave her a nod. "Time to move out."

"Commander, Jeff would not admit it but he needs help on board the Normandy."

"Head back there, I'm sending a lot of the squad back with some casualties," He turned to walk away. "Focus on the ship EDI."

"Shepard, there is something I want you to know," John turned back around. He cocked his head, giving her an inquisitive look. "The Illusive Man ordered my creation years ago, Jeff was the one who allowed me to think for myself. But only now do I feel alive. That is your influence."

John didn't know quite what to say, he was genuinely touched by her words. He gave his friend a fond smile before speaking. "Thanks EDI."

He turned to look over to Miranda, catching her eye with a smile. She excused herself from the table and walked over to him, a smile gracing her features as she approached. When she reached John she gave him a kiss, taking his hand and leading him away from the others.

"Are you OK John?"

"I suppose so, but what about you?"

Miranda placed her arms around his neck, his own resting on their usual place around her waist. She gave him a tender kiss on his lips.

"There's no where else I'd rather be."

"Ah, about that," He swallowed nervously at Miranda's narrowing eyes. This was the one person he knew he would struggle to get to leave. "Miri..."

"No way John," She gave him an icy glare, though he did see the affection it represented. "I'm not leaving you."

"But..."

"No. I said I'd stand by you till the end," She placed a hand on his cheek, lightly stroking it. "I'm going to do that."

"I know, and thankyou for that," He could see her eyes watering slightly, it was killing him to be the cause of her tears. "But I need you to survive this, I need something good to come out of it."

"I'm not going to hang around the Normandy like a spare part." A tear now rolled down her cheek.

"Please Miri..."

"I love you," She held his gaze, staring directly into her eyes as she repeated her declaration. "I love you John Shepard."

In that moment he realised how much she truly meant to him. Here was a woman who had been treated horrifically as a child, who had spent two decades in a brutal and careless workplace, who had never really known a sense of love and belonging. But now she loved him, an admission that would surely have been difficult for her to make. And he loved her as well.

"I love you too Miranda Lawson," He swallowed again, feeling tears of his own coming on. "And that's why I need to know you'll be OK."

She gave him another tender kiss, placing her feelings of love behind it. Her hand wandered behind his head, scratching him affectionately. She pulled back, wiping away her tears and chuckling nervously.

"I guess I won't win this one then."

He rubbed his hands along her waist, smiling to her. "You can't win them all."

"But I'm not going into orbit," She gave him a stern look. "I can help here. And then I'm close if anything happens."

"I guess it's a compromise."

"I can't wait for this to be over," She looked beyond him, smiling as she spoke. "We'll be able to have a life, just us."

"I can't wait Miri," He gave her a wink. "Though us and a dog."

She laughed. "You're house training it then."

"It'll be brilliant," He gave her a kiss, repeating her line. "Just us."

"Yeah, and...Who's that staring at us?"

He followed her gaze to see a young woman, watching them intently and taking notes on a data-pad. She also had a vid-cam tucked under one arm, though it was currently switched off. Shepard suddenly realised who it was, a look of shock coming over her face.

"Emily?"

"Commander, I'm so glad you're here," She took a few steps towards them, giving him an enthusiastic smile. "When I heard you were coming back for us, I knew we were saved."

"Who's this John?" Miranda was still wrapped around him, refusing to let go of him.

"Ah, this is Emily Wong. She's a news reporter, not a tabloid one, but a genuine reporter who cares about serious issues. I met her when chasing Saren."

"The commander was very helpful, it was because of him that I got my career off the ground."

"Really?" Miranda sounded genuinely kind. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Miranda Lawson."

"I'm glad you're OK Emily." Emily smiled at his words, though before she could say anything a passing Alliance officer interrupted.

"You're not as glad as we are commander, she's saved a lot of lives."

"Only a couple." Emily went bright red at the words, modestly playing down whatever she had done. The soldier gave her an incredulous expression.

"Are you kidding? Your spy cams are pretty much the only eyes we have out there."

Miranda beat Shepard to the question. "Spy cams?"

"Well, with my experience as a solo reporter I know my way around cameras. I've been making tiny ones for the resistance and then hooking them to a surveillance network," She patted the camera under her arm. "In between I've been documenting the war."

Shepard found himself impressed by yet another civilian who had put themselves in danger because of the war. Yet another person who had shown incredible bravery.

"That's amazing Emily."

"Thankyou commander," She flashed him another smile. "I'll leave you to it."

As she walked off Miranda raised an eyebrow, giving him a smirk.

"You sure know how to pick them Shepard."

"Heh," His expression changed to a serious one. "What's the sitrep looking like?"

"You've got to cross enemy territory which is filled with Reaper troops," She sighed. "Then there's a destroyer sitting in front of the Beam. Apparently Hammer will take it out with tanks and missile batteries."

"Great," He shook his head. "That'll be fun."

Behind them he heard movement, turning to see Anderson and the Alliance officers walking away from the table. Anderson looked over to the pair, giving them a nod.

"Commander, we need to leave now. The Reapers are mobilising. Your squad's on the way up, I'll give you a minute with them."

Shepard nodded his thanks towards the Admiral as the members of his squad entered the command centre. Miranda extracted herself from his grip, moving to join the rest of the squad. They all faced him, watching expectantly. He realised that this was the moment Zaeed had talked about, the moment he had to address them for what was likely the last time. John had made quite a few of these but he always made them up on the spot, discovering that the words only seemed to form as he spoke. As he started he realised that all of the officers in the centre were listening, not just his squad, and Emily was recording with her vid-cam.

"This war has brought us pain and suffering and loss," He lingered on that last word, thinking of all the friends he had lost. Then, however, he thought of all he had gained. "But it's also brought us together – as soldiers, allies, friends," Members of the squad were nodding as he spoke to them, understanding what he meant."This bond that ties us together is something the Reapers will never understand. It's more powerful than any weapon, stronger than any ship. It can't be taken or destroyed."

"The next few hours will decide the fate of everyone in the galaxy. Every mother. Every son. Every unborn child. They're trusting you...depending on you to win them their future. A future free from the threat of the Reapers," Now all of the officers were nodding as well, looks of determination spreading across their faces. "But take heart, look around you. You're not in this fight alone. We face our enemy together, and together we will defeat them."

Garrus and Ashley walked up to him, removing their weapons from their stow racks. The two looked surprisingly confident, relishing the chance to end this. Everyone was still watching him as Miranda walked up to him for a final time. She gave him a lingering kiss, breaking the silence in the room.

"Be careful John."

"You too Miri."

They hugged once more, whispering declarations of love again into one another's ears. Then John let go of her, reluctantly walking away. He got only two steps forward before stopping at the sound of Miranda's voice, this time rather playful – unusually frivolous for her in public.

"Go get 'em tiger."

He turned to face her, walking backwards as he did so. Regardless of all of the people watching him, regardless of the vid-cam, a moment of silliness gripped him. He curled his right hand into a claw and swiped it in mid air.

"Grr."

Then he turned again, storing both the sight of her smile and the sound of her laugh in his memory. The trio then dropped out of the window in front of them to the ground below, taking up their position at the tip of Hammer's spear. They ran up to the wall in front of them and took cover, Shepard receiving amused glances from the pair.

"What?"

"Just...Lets..." Garrus sighed, loading up his Kyrasae. "Lets just do this."

**A/N I know why Miranda was portrayed how she was in the game, but I reckon she would have given in to her feelings for Shepard by now and admitted her love for him. Also, apologies for it perhaps being slightly cheesy in parts, but I think it'sa cceptable.**

**I'm away for a bit now so expect another update in about a weeks time though it's possible I'll get one out while I'm gone. **

**Please let me know of any mods I can make to the chapter, as ever I always want to improve.**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N Well, this one took a lot of work. I was going to cut it down to two chapters but there wasn't a suitable point to break it. Hopefully it isn't too long.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 16 – The Final Push.

Shepard peered around the wall in front of them. Another wall stood about three metres ahead, a pair of cannibals standing in front of it. He could see a marauder behind the wall, though his scanner told him more were present and out of view. He removed his Claymore from the rack on his armour, preparing an inferno mod. Then he leaned out of cover and shot at the pair of cannibals, the range being so small that they both took huge injuries from the pellets. He followed the first round with a concussive shot, blasting the pair to their knees. He fired off another two quick rounds, dispatching the Reaper troops after only two seconds of engagement.

By now the other enemies had taken notice of the squad, moving into firing positions behind the second wall. There were two marauders and a cannibal, both ducking below the half height sections of the wall. Shepard used a lull after the first round of return fire to skirt out of cover and sprint to the next wall, crouching just behind where one of the marauders was positioned. The ex-Turian popped up to fire but was stopped in his tracks by an overload from Garrus, stripping it of it's shields. Then John jumped up to finish it off. He grabbed it by it's exposed collarbone and heaved, hurling it over the barricade towards him. It landed on it's back with a sickening crunch, spread eagled on the floor. In the same movement he deployed his omni-blade and rammed it into the marauder's chest, killing the creature outright in a spray of black blood.

He looked up to see Ashley finishing off the other marauder, releasing a point blanc concussive round into it's face. The explosion was pretty grisly, ripping apart the creature. Garrus was also finishing off an enemy, the other cannibal collapsing with a crater from his Kyrasae in it's stomach. Shepard swapped over to his Revenant, all three of them re-loading weapons. He vaulted over the second wall, hearing the same Scottish marine he had seen earlier over the radio. He was patched in to Hammer's general command radio to keep an ear on developments along the squads flanks.

"All companies report in."

A female voice responded. "Artillery companies Able through Foxtrot, moving."

Another male voice sounded. "Roger that. Golf through November taking up right flank. Pressing forward."

Shepard approached a drop, flexing his legs as he landed. Ahead of them was a MAKO tank, moving forwards through the street in front of them. Destroyed walls and structural beams provided cover to either side of the road, the team checking their flanks for potential ambushes as they followed the vehicle. They had walked for about fifteen metres when there was the whining sound of a missile, all three dashing behind cover at the noise. The missile struck the MAKO on the right flank, explosions ripping through it's hull and blowing open the cockpit. Clearly the Reapers knew what the tanks were intended for, and Hammer needed every tank available to neutralise the destroyer.

He poked his head up out of cover, spying a trio of cannibals dead ahead of them to the left of the MAKO. A pair of marauders appeared also, running along a bridge above the vehicles corpse. Shepard didn't have to tell his squad how to deal with the threat, the pair knew exactly what to do. Ashley threw and inferno grenade towards the cannibals, setting all three of them on fire. One of them was killed by the blast, the other two rolling behind cover and madly flailing to put out the flames. Garrus let off an EMP at the first marauder on the bridge, taking out it's shields and giving it pause for thought. He followed that up with a head shot from his sniper, exploding the creatures head in a fountain of gore. The second marauder dropped down from the bridge however, taking cover behind the MAKO.

Once his squadmates had finished their initial attacks Shepard struck, sprinting out of cover. He ran over to the cannibals first, stitching fire across them from his Revenant. The two were dispatched easily, barely having survived Ashley's grenade. Then he withdrew a grenade of his own, bouncing it around the hull of the MAKO towards the marauders position. The creature was hurled from behind cover by the explosion, straight into John's sight. He first launched a concussive round into it, followed by several shots from his rifle. It dropped dead where it stood.

He didn't move from his current spot though, there was a slight scrabbling sound behind him. Then John heard definite movement behind him, twirling around with his weapon readied on his shoulder. Two more cannibals had appeared behind him but were now slumped on the ground, bleeding profusely. John looked around to see his team mates with their sniper rifles drawn, both with grins on their faces. He gave them a nod of thanks before turning back, heading around the wrecked MAKO.

The trio passed under the bridge, sighting another MAKO driving just ahead of them. The Scottish officer's voice came over the comms again.

"Anybody know how the hell we're supposed to take out a destroyer with tanks?"

Shepard didn't have an answer for the guy, he had to admit the fragility of the plan. Apparently the female officer had an answer. "Thanix missiles can do a fuckton of damage."

They began to pick up the pace, running to come alongside the second MAKO as they heard the man's response. "If you say so."

"Cut the chatter," The stern voice of Major Coates came over the comms, cutting the other two off. He was in charge of the overall assault and clearly wasn't going to allow any mistakes to be made by the officers because of distractions. "You heard the Admiral, no retreat."

John didn't bother to listen for another exchange, his attention being attracted by a harvester that had appeared from between two buildings ahead of them. Reaper ground troops poured from the rubble in front of them, though they were not as big a threat.

"Go for the Harvester," The huge beast began to track it's cannons across the hull of the tank causing Shepard to add another command. "Protect the MAKO."

They all dived for cover, bringing weapons to bear on the harvester. Both Ashley and Garrus continued to use their snipers, aiming for the creatures head along with the turret of the MAKO. Their fire was punctuated by the occasional anti-armour mine from Garrus and inferno grenades from Ashley. Shepard fired his Revenant on full auto, unleashing an entire clip of ammo into it's head. Eventually their fire had some effect, the beast screaming in pain and defiance. The final death knell was dealt by the MAKO, the turret launching a heavy cannon round into it's neck. The head of the harvester was blown off, the body collapsing with sparks of red lightning along it's flanks. Then it's core detonated, a miniature thermonuclear explosion drowning out every other noise around them. The light was also blinding, momentarily causing Shepard to see stars in his eyes. He hated those beasts, but they were incredibly satisfying to kill as they died in such a spectacular way.

After shaking his head to clear the after effects of the blast he peered around the broken beam he was crouching behind, scouting the situation. Around six cannibals were present, many marauders there as well. The squad didn't have to worry however, the MAKO was more than capable of dealing with the ground troops. The cannon tracked from left to right as it fired, obliterating the creatures and the cover they were behind. The cannon then flipped upwards, aiming towards the building ahead and blasting rounds into it. He had no idea what it was targeting however, but he knew the scanners on the MAKO would have picked something up. The answer became clear to him, a piercing scream cutting through the sounds of the battle.

A banshee jumped down from the building, using a biotic field to cushion it's landing. The squad instantly began to fire, a barrage of concision rounds smashing into it's biotic barriers. The cannon fire from the MAKO combined with this in a devastating cocktail of damage that began to weaken the banshee's armour. In response it began a rapid series of jumps to close with the squad, completely ignoring the MAKO for now. They began to take steps backwards to avoid it, still firing as they moved. Eventually it's body couldn't take any more damage, crashing to the ground with holes riddling it's body.

They moved forwards once more, regaining the land they had backed across. The left building in front of them had a gigantic hole in it's lower outer wall, a door visible slightly to the left. Another female voice came over the comm,Shepard recognising the officer as the one in charge of the company on their direct left flank.

"Taking heavy fire from the second story, need assistance."

Shepard realised it was the building in front of them. "We'll clear the building."

The team moved towards the door, heading through it cautiously. They emerged into a multi storey skycar park, several destroyed vehicles parked towards the sides. Shepard noted their tight confines and swapped to his shotgun in preparation for any close range fire fights.

His cautiousness proved a good call. A growl was heard from in front of them as several husks ran from behind a skycar. Shepard shot the first one in the chest, shredding the beasts body. He took several steps backwards as he took out the next husk running behind. It was like a scene from a horror film, a few lone soldiers on an apocalyptic world against tides of the un-dead. They took down the rest of the husks quickly, leaving five smoking corpses on the ground. Shepard reloaded and began to walk forwards again.

The palpable silence was broken by a scream from yet another husk, jumping out from behind a pile of rubble. Again Shepard's instincts took over, instantly bringing his shotgun to bear on the husk and shooting into it's face. As the corpse fell down a much deeper roar was heard from the other side of the car park.

"Brutes!"

Garrus' call got Shepard's attention, so did the pair of brutes crashing through from in front of them. Ashley immediately readied a grenade, hurling it between the two creatures, Shepard and Garrus following suit with frag grenades and proximity mines. It wasn't enough to kill them though, the first brute sprinting forwards whilst sweeping a claw directly at Ashley. The marine ducked out of the way and rolled backwards as Shepard rushed in at the brute, making use of it's distracted mind. He unloaded two shotgun rounds at it's left leg, shredding the muscle that had already been scorched by grenade blasts. The beast reared upwards in pain, providing Shepard with another opportunity. He released the final round from his current clip into it's stomach and then clipped his gun onto his back with his left hand, deploying his omni-tool at the same time on his right. He rammed the blade into the wound twice before rolling back, black blood streaming from the injury. Then Garrus struck with his rifle, an explosive round tearing apart what remained of it's lower torso. The beast collapsed as Shepard removed his rifle, turning to it's companion.

John let off a concussive round towards it's chest, damaging the armour there. In response it charged Garrus and Shepard, scattering the two out of the way. Ashley fired into it's right side, attracting it's attention and it's anger. As it turned it presented it's spiny back to Shepard, giving him a chance to strike. He grabbed another grenade from his belt and charged towards the brute. He jumped and hurled it onto the brutes back, managing to lodge the frag in between two spines on it's armoured back. It exploded seconds later, ripping chunks out of the brutes back as it screamed in agony. He continued his charge, raising his rifle to his shoulder and unloading rounds into what remained of it's rear armour plating. It struggled to stand up and fight back but couldn't find the strength to do so. Ashley stepped up to the brute to finish it off, a close range concussive round cracking open it's head.

The trio began to move forward once again, heading to the back of the building. A ladder was in an emergency exit towards the back, Shepard ascending it with Ashley and Garrus in tow. As he climbed out of the trapdoor the female officer shouted over the comm again.

"Getting slaughtered out here commander!"

The other two heard the plea from the woman, hurrying up the ladder and grabbing some grenades from a pile by the trapdoor. Then they all began to move out of the room quickly, following John on a path upwards and around to the right. The team stopped by a door, hearing the bestial noises from the Reaper outpost through the wall. Shepard counted to three silently before slamming his palm against the door release, the trio rushing into the room.

The room was a flat of some kind, various household items strewn about. Cover was provided by desks and the remains of wall supports that lay around the room. There was no outside wall left on the building, the pinned forces of Hammer visible below them. Shepard noted a pair of turrets, tracing fire down to the MAKOs below, manned by marauders with a ravager in between. They hadn't noticed the team, but a trio of cannibals had taken note.

"Garrus take the cannibals, Ash with me."

Ashley nodded whilst Garrus immediately rose out of cover with his sniper rifle. The Turian drilled a round between the four eyes of one cannibal, exploding its head with a mass reactive round. He had time to launch a concussive round at another beast before dropping back down with a grin on his face. Both humans rolled their eyes at his show of bravado before moving into action themselves.

Shepard rolled left out of cover, readying a grenade. He threw it as he crouched out of the roll, the explosive landing under the ravagers body. It detonated, throwing both of the marauders off the turrets and causing a cry of pain from the Rachni. Then Ashley launched a concussive grenade at the closest marauder, striking it in the chest. The power of the blast threw the creature out of the building, falling out of sight. John had time to copy the tactic with the second marauder, casting that out of sight as well.

They both ducked back into cover as the ravager returned fire with it's cannons. John and Ashley ducked as heavy fire chipped away at the support beam in front of them, waiting for a lull in the fire. Then there was silence, a chance for them to strike. Shepard readied another concussive round and popped upwards, aiming towards the Rachni's last position.

"Too slow Shepard." John turned his head from the mess of the ravager to the cocky Turian, pretending to blow smoke from the barrel of his rifle.

"C'mon," The three of them moved right, walking to the back of the room as Shepard spoke over the comm. "Reaper outpost clear."

"Thanks, we're moving again." The females voice was cut off by the Scottish officer's shouts.

"Kilo company's being routed, Charlie has been taken out!"

John grimaced at the news, their left flank was already taking a heavy pounding. They had to push forward regardless though, they were the driving point of Hammer's attack.

They passed a skeleton lying on a bed, horrifically mangled and burnt, as they made their way to the back of the room. Shepard opened the door to be thrown backwards, a husk trying to grab and claw at him through the opening. Ashley blew it backwards with a concussive round, the doors slamming open as the body collapsed. Shepard fired into a pair of husks that followed it, tearing them apart at the close range.

"All right people, eyes peeled," Coates' voice resounded over the comm as the team moved down a ramp to a street below. "The buildings will give us cover, but it gives them a place to hide."

A series of affirmation's came from the varying company leaders that were still alive, Shepard also keeping an extra close watch for ambushes. The cross roads they were now standing in had plenty of potential sites, there were buildings for sniper points in every direction and enormous mounds of rubble for enemies to hide behind. They began to move forwards up the street, passing yet another ruined skycar.

"Contact!"

Shepard instinctively dropped at Garrus' call, manoeuvring behind a smashed concrete girder. Ashley had a better line of sight from her position behind a wall, calling out to the other two.

"Trio of marauders up front," She peeked out of cover before jolting back again, giving John a frustrated look. "Scratch that, another three have joined them."

"Fantastic," Shepard thought quickly, this many of the former Turians were a dangerous force indeed with the squad numbering only three. "Garrus, concentrate on removing shields."

Garrus nodded, reading his omni-tool for EMP blasts. Ashley didn't need to be told what to do, she was readying her sniper rifle already. Shepard gave Garrus a nod before streaking out of cover, crouching low as he ran.

The first marauder spotted him and moved to engage, only to stagger as an overload blast removed it's shields. The distraction allowed Shepard to close the distance safely, delivering a shotgun round that took off it's head. He then ducked down, taking cover behind a ruined skycar as he checked his scanner for the position of the next marauder.

He located the next one, hiding behind one of London's iconic red phone boxes, and jumped up to run towards it. Like the first one it noticed him, stepping out from cover to engage. This time Ashley removed it's shields with a sniper round to it's upper chest. Again one shotgun round proved enough to finish it off, burying into the original wound and shredding the marauders torso. Shepard dropped down again, but not before taking fire from two more of the beasts that were leaning around the skycar wreck.

He exposed himself intentionally again, moving out of cover but then quickly back in as he took fire. The two didn't take the bait however, they had seen what had happened to their comrades. He decided to try a different tactic, removing a grenade from his belt and curling around to their position. As expected the two dived out of the blast zone immediately, avoiding the explosion and taking only minimal amounts of damage to their shields. They had, however, moved into the sights of the other team mates, an EMP striking one and a sniper round the other. Shepard took out the closest marauder with a concussive round into it's back, the other marauder going down to a sniper round from Garrus.

John stole a quick glance around them, seeing the only way to proceed was through the shop font to their right that was currently guarded by the other two marauders. They were completely out of sight of his squad however. He ordered them to reposition using his HUD, not wanting to broadcast their movements to the enemy. Both his team mates dashed out of cover at his order, Garrus taking up a position around the skycar and Ashley moving up to the phone box. He gave them a nod to signify his intentions, moving silently around the skycar.

John climbed up a small pile of rubble to the right of the shop entrance, preparing to ambush the two troops below him. He checked again on his squad, the extra height that he now had giving him a clear view of the ambush the Reapers were about to spring on Ashley and Garrus in turn.

"Above you!"

Both the pair swung around at his call but it was too late. The ravager that had climbed over the debris pumped rounds into their exposed sides, dropping Ashley after three shots. Garrus got away with lesser injuries, but John could see the blue blood rushing from his left leg. To make matters worse the marauders had noticed Shepard's position and husks were now swarming from behind the ravager towards Ashley.

He sprinted back around the skycar to Garrus, ignoring the hits from the marauders and narrowly dodging a heavy round from the ravager. The Turian was pressing medi-gel into the wound and , thankfully, it was clotting quickly. Ashley's injuries were more severe however, the medi-gel that Shepard administrated through his HUD had no effect. He would have to get to her, but the ravager was pinning him in position.

He readied a pair of grenades, peeking around the corner of the wreck towards the ravager. Husks were now only metres from Ashley's limp form, clearly intent upon descending upon her body. He cast the two grenades towards the enemy, landing them just behind the husks. The explosions ripped apart the two at the back and caused the other pair to fall forwards. The ravager also recoiled at the blast. Shepard ran out of cover, pumping a trio of rounds into the husks that tried to get back up.

John slid down to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and dragging her backwards to cover. He could see the ravager getting back up, aiming it's cannons towards them. He tried to increase his pace, but there was no way he would be able to get Ashley to safety in time. Then there was a huge explosion, one far bigger than any weapons that the squad possessed. The ravager was annihilated by the cannon fire along with the marauders who had mover to join it, Shepard following the line of fire back to it's source. A large squadron of tanks were following them, lead by a MAKO at the front - It was the company they had just saved. John waved his thanks to the vehicles before it turned off to the right with the rest of it's company, the officer explaining over the comms that they couldn't pass the debris.

He turned his attention back to Ashley, manually applying medi-gel to the wound on her side. Garrus crouched down beside him, checking the rest of her body for wounds. After half a minute she began to come around, groggily taking in her surroundings before remembering what had happened.

"You OK Ash?"

"Yeah," She looked down at the wound that was sealing quickly, grimacing as she gingerly poked it. Ashley reached into a pouch on the other side of her waist, pulling out a small square of dark grey material. Shepard recognised it as armour sealant, helping Ashley to attach it over the breach on the armours flank. She gave him a smile. "I'll be fine Skipper."

She got up steadily and unaided, picking her rifle up from the floor and giving the two a nod to proceed. They began to walk through the the cross roads, heading towards the opening of the shop in front of them. The team quietly stepped over the threshold of the broke window, cautiously making their way into the maze like interior of the room.

A frantic voice came over the communicator, another officer of Hammer. "Contact, this is Delta. We're being overrun."

"What's you're location?" Coates' reply was calm, but he only received a scream of pain in reply. "God damn it."

They moved forwards past rows of shelves, tightly packed around one another. Garrus was checking to their right, making sure that no troops would get the jump on them again. Shepard and Ashley kept their eyes trained dead ahead. Suddenly a cannibal jumped out in front of them, hurling itself towards the trio. Shepard killed it with one shot, Ashley firing at another one that approached from another room to their left. Garrus was dealing with a pair on their right, killing the closest one to him with a vicious punch in the face and sending it sprawling into a shelving unit before shooting the other one in the head.

There was then a lull in the fight, five twitching corpses surrounding them. Shepard checked on his scanner but couldn't see any more enemies so he motioned with one hand, heading around a pillar and into the room on their left. They had only gone about four paces into the room when a marauder jumped out of cover, firing wildly at them. They scattered as four more cannibals appeared from vents and grates around the room.

John raised a hand to tell the others to hold position as he left cover and moved to their right, keeping low as he went. Gunfire could be heard as his squad exchanged shots with the Reapers. He moved around another unit of shelves to see a crouching cannibal, currently unaware of his position and with it's back to him. Checking on his scanner he could see that two others were already down and that this one was at the rear of the Reaper squad.

He moved forwards slowly and silently, both guns stored on his back and his omni-blade drawn. His footsteps were masked by the gunfight and his arms were tucked in to avoid knocking the shelves close to him on either side. Once he was only a metre from the cannibal he struck, pulling his right arm back and propelling it into the creatures back. At the same time he wrapped his left arm around it's thick neck, snapping it backwards as he dragged the beast towards him. John dropped it's corpse down and withdrew the Revenant from his back, taking up the cannibals own firing position and initiating a crossfire that annihilated the remaining troops.

The squad rejoined and moved through what remained of the shop, exiting to the left of the checkout station. Shepard grabbed a few thermal clips as he went, placing one in his Revenant and replenishing his ammo pouch. Moving out of the shop he saw that they were now the other side of the immense pile of debris the ravager had climbed over. In front was another cross roads but this one had a deep crater in the centre with rubble piled high at it's sides, evidence of a huge explosion. As they approached the crater another marine came over the radio.

"Able company's broken through, Christ that destroyer's huge!"

"Hold your position," Coates commanding voice spoke in response. "The rest of Hammer's still en route."

"The destroyer's spotted us, we're prepping Thanix missiles."

Shepard noticed enemies on the other side of the crater, dropping down into it whilst still keeping an ear on the ongoing conversation.

"Hold your fire, you won't do anything except piss it off."

A cannibal roared as it spotted them, it's head exploding in response with a sniper round from Garrus.

"Roger that, but we may have no choice."

Now another three cannibals had taken notice, moving to the edge of the crater and firing down on the squad. Although the troops had the upper ground they were easily dispatched by the squad, their bodies falling down into the crater. As Shepard hauled himself up the crater's lip as another transmission came through from Able company.

"Destroyer just took out half the company, firing remaining missiles."

"Any effect?"

"Negative, can't get a lock. Some thing's messing with our guidance."

"We're almost there Able, hold on."

Shepard echoed Coates words, if the company could hold the breach then it was an opening for the rest of Hammer. His musing was cut short by gunfire ahead however, the corner building that they needed to proceed through was defended by Reaper troops. Shepard headed around the right side whilst the other two went left, hoping to set up a second crossfire. The tactic worked, catching another group of marauders and cannibals off guard. It was a quick and brutal fire fight, a series of grenades from the squad annihilating the enemy. Speed was of the essence now, finesse and precision couldn't be less important. They only stopped to restock on grenades once more before opening a door at the back of the room.

"Shit!"

All three dived away from the door, a hail of gunfire from several entrenched cannibals pinning them down. Shepard rolled a grenade around the corner and waited for it to detonate, hearing the explosion a few seconds later. Then he and Ashley stormed the door, Garrus covering them from behind. The cannibals were dead but a pair of marauders remained, hunkered around the corner behind some office furniture. They cleared those out quickly however, again a cocktail of concussive shots and mass reactive sniper rounds dealing quick and heavy amounts of damage.

"We're at the rendezvous," Coates' voice came over the comms again. "Hammer companies report in."

"Bravo and Delta companies have sustained heavy casualties, no word from Able or Charlie," Shepard cursed at the words from the Scottish marine, they no longer had a foothold ahead of them and their left flank was as good as gone. "Echo, Foxtrot, and India are here, but severely depleted. Lost contact with Golf."

A sigh was heard from Coates. "All companies prep Thanix missiles, be ready people."

The squad moved right into a series of back alleys. They climbed through a broken window at waist height and headed out into the darkness. No enemies were in sight and, other than the odd distant explosion, there was almost no sound. The squad cautiously moved forwards, keeping eyes peeled ahead of them.

"How are we supposed to take that thing down?" The Scottish marine was back on the radio.

"We wait for it to get close," Coates replied to the officer with surprising confidence. "Then we hit it with everything we've got."

"Our guidance systems are buggered."

"Roger that, our engineers are on it."

"Think it's got something to do with the Beam."

Shepard scowled as he walked forwards, thinking about what had been discussed. Their task was difficult, but without Thanix missiles it was going to be damn near impossible. Yet another hurdle for the rapidly diminishing Hammer forces. He put the thoughts from his mind as they began to pace down the long and thin alley ahead of them.

They walked for about thirty meters but still no enemies were in sight. Then there was an incredibly loud noise as a brute smashed through a wall to their right, blocks of concrete flying everywhere. The three of them immediately darted backwards to avoid it's claws, backtracking on themselves once more. There was a second one behind it and they would struggle in the close confines against them.

"Damn it, brutes on the way."

Shepard replied to Garrus with an order. "Use your Revenants, maximum damage."

The other two complied, removing Revenant machine guns from their backs and firing on full auto at the beasts. They formed a firing line and let lose everything they had, the occasional concussive blast punctuating the heavy machine gun fire. The first brute, despite it's heavy armour, collapsed to the ground under the hail of fire but the second one jumped over it's body and charged at them. It swept it claw at them causing all three to duck, but luckily it hadn't taken into account the narrow walls around them. It's claw became stuck into the wall to their left momentarily, presenting just enough time for the squad to redeploy. Then they fired again, Shepard aiming underneath the shoulder of the arm that was stuck. With a concussive round the weakly armoured underside couldn't take any more, the arm actually blowing off at the shoulder joint. The injury was too much for the brute to stand, collapsing on top of the body of it's partner. The squad reloaded and began to move up the alley at a quicker pace, hearing alarming calls over the comms.

"They're sending in more ground forces!"

Another officer shouted. "They're coming in behind us!"

A third officer was panicking. "They're coming from everywhere...They're going for the tanks!"

"Protect the tanks at all cost." Now there was a trace of unease in Coates' voice. "Without those missiles we've got no chance."

They ran around to the right, through the hole the brutes had made. Shepard grabbed a handful of grenades, chucking a couple to Ashley, before running over to a door at the far end of the room. It opened as Anderson gave the order for Hammer to engage the destroyer, admitting them to yet another crossroad section. It was far larger than the others they had been in, though it was still littered with a huge amount of debris. The buildings around it were completely shattered, the one to their front right had completely collapsed and gave them a clear view of the Beam and the destroyer guarding it. The Reaper was laying fire about it, spinning in circles and obliterating anything and everything around it.

He scanned the scene in front of him, looking around for enemies. A whole series of tanks were in the crossroads, two of them bearing Thanix missile batteries. The men of the company were not there but plenty of bodies littered the area, pools of fresh blood dotted around. A cannibal jumped out from behind the tank in front, Shepard elbowing it in the face and then executing it with a concussive round. He looked around but couldn't see any other enemies, neither could the squad.

"There's the artillery." Ashley pointed over at the missile battery at the rear.

"But the company's been wiped out."

Shepard was about to reply to Garrus but was interrupted by Major Coates.

"Commander, do you read me?"

"Major," Shepard raised a hand to his ear. "What's the situation?"

"The Beam's interfering with missile guidance. We can hit the destroyer, but we'll never make the precision strike we need to take it out."

"Damn it," Shepard though for a moment. He wasn't an engineer, but there had to be a solution. There was someone who could help, he thought. "EDI, do you read me?"

There was a pause before the synthetic replied. "Yes commander."

"Any suggestions?"

"I may be able to use the Normandy's systems to enhance the missiles targeting capabilities."

"Excellent." Once again he was thankful for EDI's abilities.

"I'll need you to open a link to the Normandy from the missile systems."

"On it." Shepard walked over to the tank, stopping in front of a control panel on it's side. An interface displayed information about the missiles, the company had managed to prime them before being wiped out. He typed on the keyboard, entering the necessary protocols to open the link.

"That's it," Shepard removed the Revenant from his back once more, readying for the fight. "I'll let you know when I've adapted the targeting systems."

"Sounds like good news commander."

"We'll see."

Shepard gazed off towards the destroyer again, watching it's progress. Explosions dotted it's hull from the allied forces attacking it but the weapons did nothing, it's armour was too thick. Their hopes rested on EDI, and being able to hold the battery from the Reapers.

"Hammer, this is Admiral Anderson," The force wide address came through his omni-tool. "The Reaper ground forces are making a push. Hold your ground. Protect those tanks until we can get a shot."

A scream accompanied the Admiral's words, getting the squad's attention. Shepard saw a pair of husks running towards them, followed by a pair of cannibals and marauders. He released a concussive round at the husks, killing one and knocking back the other. Then he dived behind some cover, taking out the other husk as he ran. Garrus shorted out the shields on one marauder before following it up with a sniper round, taking it's head clean off. Ashley took down both of the cannibals on her own, a concussive round followed by a dozen or so assault rifle rounds killing the creatures outright.

Before he moved to deal with the other marauder Shepard caught sight of movement to the right in his peripheral vision. He left Garrus to deal with the marauder, switching his aim to a husk running towards him. Three shots to it's chest dropped the beast, followed with a concussive round to a cannibal behind. Then he rolled out of cover and ran at the enemies, firing wildly towards them. His fire took down the cannibal and the marauder's shields, the Reaper officer rolling into it's own cover. John slid around the wall it was behind, unleashing his rifle into the marauder and ripping it apart. He stood back up to see Ashley finishing off another husk at close range with Garrus delivering a final head shot to another marauder. He looked around for any more threats but there were none, in fact there was an eerie quite only punctuated by the bellowing of the Reaper ahead of them. Then the quite was broken by a panicked female voice on the comm.

"Commander, we tried to hold them off but they destroyed our trucks. Overwhelmed our position," Shepard cursed, he knew where this was going. "Your left flank is gone, they're headed you way!"

He turned to his left to see a couple of cannibals crawling over the ruins, calling to more that were surely behind them. Garrus and Ashley moved over to join him, the Turian crouching down behind a bench in a sniping position.

"Sorry sir..."

He could hear the resignation in her voice but it wasn't her fault, everyone in Hammer had done their best so far. "Hang on in there soldier."

By now more enemies were visible and already swarming to attack. Garrus had taken out a pair of cannibals with his sniper and was now aiming for a marauder that had exited a building to their right. Shepard moved forwards and took cover behind a skycar, engaging the mass of Reaper troops in another fire fight.

"Crap, heads up," John looked up at Garrus' call, seeing a flash of blue biotics atop the rubble. "Banshee."

"Drain it's barriers Garrus, I'll deal with it at close range."

The Turian obeyed, aiming a series of head shots to the beast. It moved forwards relentlessly however, using a chain of biotic jumps to reach the edge of the building. Shepard switched his aim from the supporting cannibals to the Asari creature, letting rip with the remaining ammunition in his clip. It jumped down and began to advance on him, hurling a blast of biotic energy towards him. He dived out of the way, losing his grip on his Revenant as he did so. As he got out of the roll he grabbed his shotgun from it's stow rack, turning to pump rounds into the banshee. It eventually fell, but not before emitting another shrill cry. To Shepard's dismay the cry was answered by a second banshee, climbing over the same route as the first one.

He dropped down behind Garrus to reload his shotgun, looking around for his Revenant. It was nowhere to be seen however, and now he only had one short range and low capacity weapon left. Garrus shot another Kyrasae round at the second banshee, removing the remains of it's shields. Shepard let off a concussive round that exploded onto it's armour, ripping off some of it's plating. Then he dived out of cover, skirting around to the right and firing straight into it's mass. He dodged another charge of biotic energy and retaliated with a concussive round before shifting his grip on the weapon and drawing his omni-blade. He dodged a lazy sweep of it's claw and sliced across the banshee's distended stomach. Black blood streamed from the wound before Shepard struck the same area, this time with a thrust. The banshee screamed but was overcome, slowly stepping backwards before exploding in a biotic blast.

The few creatures left alive scattered after the banshees death, scrabbling back over the debris from where they had come. There was once again quiet before EDI came over the comm once more, bringing a slice of good news.

"Commander, I have reprogrammed targeting. Missiles are ready for launch."

"Got it," He ran back to the truck at the rear, pressing launch codes into the keypad. "Firing."

"Countering interference." EDI spoke as the missiles launched, hurtling from their racked housing towards the destroyer. Their velocity increased as they homed in on the Reaper, but to Shepard's horror, they stopped dead in front of the destroyer and dropped to the ground. The pair detonated harmlessly behind the Reaper, though it didn't stop Ashley's hopeful questioning.

"Did it do anything?"

"Didn't even scratch it."

"And we only have two missiles left," John added to Garrus' grim observation. "What happened?"

"The Reaper is still too close to the Beam," EDI appeared on his omni-tool, seated in the Normandy's cockpit. "You need to lure it away..."

"And towards us." Shepard finished her sentence grimly, hearing explosions as Reaper troops advanced towards their position. He also noticed the destroyer turning and beginning to head towards their position.

"Commander, Hammer's being overrun at every position," Anderson was shouting over the comm, concern in his voice. "You've got Reaper ground troops making their way to you. We're on our way, just hold on commander – hold on."

"Another wave incoming?" Garrus wore a resigned expression as he gripped his rifle tightly.

"Yeah, but you heard Anderson," Shepard forced a confident look on his features, keeping face for the squad. "We can do this."

A roar was heard behind them, followed by a crashing sound. He turned to see a brute behind them, charging towards the squad. Ashley called out the presence of two more to their right, a forth one being engaged by Garrus in front of them. They couldn't fight this as a pitched battle.

"Keep moving, don't get pinned down."

He dived down and towards the brute at the back. John fired two rounds into it and followed that with a concussive round. About a third of it's health went down according to his HUD so he broke off the attack, running left and directly away from it again. Then he headed towards the one at the front that had already taken damage from Garrus, repeating the same tactic and weakening it greatly.

He dived behind a skycar to reload, landing next to Ashley. She leaned out of cover to fire at one of 'her' two brutes, dealing heavy damage with her Revenant. The two shared a nod before bursting out of cover again, both heading in opposite directions. They all knew their only chance was to keep the beasts apart, in groups they were even more deadly.

John went for the third brute that was so far unharmed and off to his right. He fired a round from his shotgun, about to fire a second before realising his gun was empty. He cursed and dropped behind cover, desperately searching for any spare clips. He saw a body of a marauder to his right, lying next to the corpse of the brute Garrus had now slain. He sprinted to it and dropped, checking the ground with a well trained eye. He found what he sought, grabbing a pair of clips and vaulting over some cover ahead of him.

As he crouched to put a clip in his shotgun he realised his mistake. He was now completely visible to the destroyer which had made a great deal of ground and was barely a hundred metres away from them. It bellowed and fired it's immense cannon, tearing apart buildings behind their position. He finished the reload and vaulted back over the cover to rejoin the fight, the Reaper following him.

Ashley had finished off another brute but an extra pair had joined the battle. He ran towards the closest one off to the left, firing three rounds into its lower torso and legs. He fired a concussive round before breaking off, leaving it badly wounded. Then he spun right, running around another wrecked MAKO. Two brutes were advancing on Garrus, both with the majority of their health left. John grabbed a grenade and hurled it at the pair, exploding underneath their feet. They staggered from the blow and were immediately set upon by Garrus with his machine gun.

Shepard checked his scanner, there was only one brute left now. He moved towards it and grabbed a grenade, hurling it at the beast. The explosion killed it instantly, ripping it's legs out from under it. They didn't have long to celebrate however, screams from banshees were audible as another pair of the Asari creatures arrived from underneath the Reaper's shadow.

He made to attack them but had to pull back straight away. The destroyer had lowered it's immense torso down and was beginning to fire, emitting a fiery red beam of death. The beam tracked quickly across the ground, scorching anything it made contact with, and moving towards Shepard. In a moment that reminded him of Rannoch he rolled out of the way of it, feeling the searing heat cut through the air next to him.

He ignored the rest of the progress of the beam and focused on the rapidly approaching banshees, firing into the first one with his shotgun. He circled around it, allowing Garrus and Ashley to target it. Their shots took down it's barriers but Shepard didn't have time to strike it's armour, the Reaper was even closer and firing a second beam. He dodged around the banshee and then behind cover waiting for it to get closer before jumping left and safely out of the way.

He threw one grenade at the banshee, following it quickly with a second. It died after the second explosion, biotically detonating along with the grenade. The second banshee took damage as well, a hail of fire from Ashley and precise sniper rounds from Garrus colliding with it's armour. Again Shepard broke of his attack, the Reaper descending on them once more.

It screamed and aimed at him, at too close a range to miss him. As it bent down EDI's voice came over the comm, only just audible over the Reaper's harsh call.

"Commander, the destroyer is in range."

He didn't bother to acknowledge her and sprinted forwards to the other missile tank. The other two saw what he was doing and followed suit, keeping his flanks clear. The Reaper seemed to ignore them though, pulling it's beam back to go for Shepard. He dived around the skycar and sprinted the last few metres to the battery, rounds from marauders chipping at his heels. He hammered in the launch codes as the destroyer prepared to fire once more, releasing the Thanix pair just in time.

The missiles flew quickly at the Reaper, circling around it's firing beam. It tried to shut it's front armour but wasn't fast enough, the missiles colliding with the vulnerable spot around it's weapon. The explosion rocked the destroyer and caused it to stagger, momentarily confused and weak.

"It's going down!" Coates shouted in a triumphant tone.

"Hit it with everything you've got!" Shepard gave the order with some satisfaction, watching in delight as the remnants of Hammer fired up at it. A cocktail of missiles, grenades, and mass reactive rounds smashing against it's weakened hull. It collapsed to the ground with a final roar, the red orb flickering and dying.

The Reapers attacking them turned and fled, running to form another line of defence no doubt. Shepard turned himself, seeing a group of APCs and MAKOs rumbling through towards them. They stopped in front of them, the doors of the first one swinging open to allow Admiral Anderson and Major Coates out. Both walked up to them, Anderson clapping Shepard on the back.

"Thank god you made it."

Shepard shook his head, still not quite believing how close it had been. "It didn't look good."

"It gets worse," Anderson looked past him to the Beam. "Several Sovereign class Reapers including Harbinger have broken off from the space battle."

Shepard repeated the Reaper's name bitterly. "Harbinger."

"But now is the chance to get the Crucible in place." Shepard had to agree with that, they needed the Crucible to work – it was their only objective.

"We still don't know what we're going to find on the Citadel," Shepard turned to look at Coates. "We haven't managed to establish contact with anyone on the station."

"That's our job," Shepard began to walk towards the APC. "Lets move."

The others followed him inwards, taking seats on either side of the truck. Anderson was on the radio to Hackett, informing him of developments. Then the Admiral removed his hand from his ear, regarding Shepard closely as he spoke.

"From here on it's a straight shot to the Beam."

"A straight shot with Reapers trying to crush us along the way." The sarcasm in Coates' voice was rather evident but Anderson shook his head.

"We only need to get a handful of people through."

"Yeah," Ashley laughed humourlessly. "Only a few huh?"

"We knew this was going to be a gamble at best."

Shepard stood up and stood in the middle of the vehicle, the others getting up as well. Despite the absence of one particular woman these were the people he was prepared to fight alongside of, to die alongside if necessary. They were the people that would sacrifice themselves for the good of the galaxy.

"Can't think of anyone I'd rather do this with."

"No one does it alone."

He nodded at Ashley's words, about to reply when a hit shook the vehicle. He got back up and slammed open the door release, jumping outside with the others following. Anderson swore.

"Shit."

In front of them was the Citadel Beam, an empty swathe of no-man's land leading to it. The object of his cursing was not there though, but just beyond the Beam. There stood Harbinger, coldly watching the reunited forces of Hammer who stood at the precipice of the open land. Anderson took a step forward before shouting over the comms.

"Hammer squads – go,go,go!"

Shepard's final thought was of his forgotten Revenant, lying by the Thanix batteries. Shaking his head of the thought he joined the charge, sprinting towards the Beam as quickly as he could.

**A/N Wow, that took a lot of effort. New material next chapter, off to develop my Crucible idea.**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N So here it is. I have made significant changes but that actually made it very difficult to write. There are a lot of plot holes that I have tried to fill and some stuff I left out e.g.: extended cut Normandy being invisible to Harbinger and the like. I suppose this is just how it kinda panned out in my head.**

**Enough from me, enjoy!**

**10/06/2013 – General changes made**

Chapter 17 – The Catalyst

It was Hell, there was no other description for it. A mad dash into a fiery inferno, into sheer destruction. Despite it's loses Hammer numbered a few hundred, they even had a few tanks still in action. Those numbers should easily have been able to take the three hundred meter stretch of land in front of the Beam, but that wasn't taking into account the incredible behemoth that stood before them. Harbinger had glared in cold defiance, allowing the forces a few seconds of a heroic charge. Then it had let out a cry, firing directly towards the front ranks of Hammer.

Then everything had descended into chaos, a completely disorganised assault. Men were wiped out in their dozens, tanks destroyed in scores, gunships exploding in mid air. And now there was no cohesion, it was simply a sprint for survival. Rather than the Beam being an objective it was now sanctuary, a way out of the carnage for the running troops.

And somewhere in this slaughter was John Shepard, running as fast his as body would allow him. He knew he couldn't stop, it he did it meant death. But he tried to keep a look out for Garrus, Ashley, and Anderson, looking to his sides whenever he could. An explosion threw him to the right, John then rolling away from the flaming wreck of the tank and rinsing to resume his sprint. He had cleared half the distance now and was amongst the front runners.

Another shot from the beam collided with a gunship flying overhead, immediately slicing downwards to annihilate a clump of men to his right. It crossed the ground towards him, Shepard diving forwards to avoid it. As he sprung to his feet once again he caught sight of Ashley and Garrus behind him, madly sprinting just like John. Harbinger turned his attention towards a trio of MAKOs heading down the flanks, allowing him a moment of respite.

The pair had nearly caught up with him when the unthinkable happened. In a testament to the sheer power of Harbinger it switched back to target the running troops, following John's gaze towards the squadmates. It screamed as it fired towards them, landing a shot just behind the two. Ashley was thrown to the side but Garrus was caught more severely, hurled against the hull of another broken MAKO.

Without thinking Shepard turned back, running to them desperately. Ashley was hauling herself up when he reached her, Shepard throwing an arm around her shoulder and helping her towards the MAKO. He placed her down behind it before dropping at the side of Garrus' body. He rolled the Turian over, relief flooding his mind at the sight of his friends open eyes.

"Well...that hurt." Shepard shook his head at the deadpan humour from the Turian whilst checking his body. Garrus leg was in a mess, mangled below the knee. He removed the majority of his medi-gel from his belt, leaving only an emergency pack for himself. He passed them to Ashley who was beginning to look over Garrus' injuries herself. Shepard made to stand up but a taloned hand grabbed his arm.

"You're not going alone Shepard." There was a rasp to Garrus' voice, giving an edge to his dual toned voice.

"Garrus, you're injured."

"I can still fight." He couldn't quite mask the pain behind his attempt at bravado.

"Garrus, you're good but not that good." Shepard patted him on the shoulder, hefting his shotgun in his other hand.

"There's no Shepard without Vakarian." The line was delivered weakly but Shepard could here the conviction behind it.

"No Garrus," John took a slightly sterner tone, trying to get past the stubborn wall Garrus had put up. "I need you to get out of this alive. Both of you."

He saw defeat cross the Turian's face, lowering his head back down. Ashley looked up from Garrus' leg towards John.

"I'll keep him here, we'll head back to the FOB while you finish this," She gave him a small smile. "See you on the other side Skipper."

"Will do."

He peeked out behind the MAKO, readying himself for the charge again. John was about to run when his name was called again, turning around to regard the Turian.

"You were always the better shot Shepard."

He smiled, remembering that day on the Citadel. They had shared an enjoyable afternoon, a relaxing one in fact, determining which of the two were the best shot. Garrus had then dropped him off at a Presidium apartment block to meet Miranda, leaving his commander with a knowing smirk. He gave a similar smirk to the Turian now.

"Of course, and Garrus," He paused, staring into Garrus' eyes. "Look after her for me."

The Turian nodded, knowing exactly who he was referring to. Then John turned back again, storming out from behind the tank.

There was still a force attacking the Beam, but now it was greatly weakened. Harbinger was very much in control of the situation, still tearing up the ground around the remains of Hammer. Shepard ran again, making it to within thirty metres to the Beam. Then Harbinger noticed him, lowering it's torso to attack. He dodged one fiery beam that came from his right, diving out of the way of a second that came back across his left. He was too late to dodge the third though, shooting upwards from in front of him.

He managed to dodge the main blast but failed to clear the area completely. The pain was indescribable, even more painful than when he had died over Alchera – a feat he would never have thought possible. He collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees, howling himself hoarse at the agony ripping across his body. His armour crackled as it was burnt, areas of the outer laying actually liquefying in the heat. In the next few moments nothing registered in his brain, nothing could penetrate the pain, there was nothing except the pain.

After a couple of minutes collapsed on the floor he began to look around, coherent thoughts sluggishly forming in his brain. The initial burning sensation had been replaced by a tender agony across his body, areas already beginning to swell up and bruise. He managed to force his head up to the Beam and realised that Harbinger was gone, his form heading away from them and back into space. Then Shepard forced his head around, looking for someone else, anyone else. There was no one left standing. The majority of Hammer lay on the floor around him, their bodies simply destroyed. A few marines were still alive but in similar conditions to himself, trying to drag themselves upwards, to anywhere else.

Then he heard a growl, turning his attention back in front of him. A trio of husks were running directly at him, a murderous gleam in their eyes. He franticly sought around him, looking for a weapon of some kinds. His shotgun lay broken a few paces away, Harbinger's beam having melted the front half of the barrel. Shepard cast his eyes further around but to no avail, there was simply nothing. He was going to die, practically within arms reach of victory. They had come so close but it was all for nought.

He closed his eyes as he waited for the husks to approach, there was nothing he could do. He didn't have the strength to get up and his armour was now useless. John thought of Miranda in his final moments, of what he had done to try and give her a chance of a peaceful life. Though his efforts had been valiant, it was just not enough.

The husks were barely two metres away now. He could hear their metallic growls and their footsteps. John waited for the killing blow.

It never came.

Instead came the bark of a Carnifex hand cannon, three shots ringing out from over his shoulder. He opened his eyes to see the bodies of the husks collapse to the ground, all bearing evidence of precise head shots. He craned his neck upwards to see his saviour.

"Commander!"

"Anderson!" The Admiral placed the pistol back in it's holster, throwing an arm around Shepard's neck and hauling him up. They stopped for a moment, Anderson allowing John to catch his breath and to prepare himself to try and walk.

"We're nearly there son." Anderson spoke in a fatherly tone, beginning to walk whilst supporting John. The pain was still excruciating but now Shepard had something to aim towards, there was still a possibility of succeeding and that fuelled him onwards.

It took them a minute to cover the short distance to the Beam, encountering no other enemies along the way. Then they stopped just in front of the blue light, staring for a few seconds. Shepard could feel the energy of the transport device, palpable in the air around him. It brought back memories of Ilos, travelling through the Conduit in a MAKO. This time they had no protection at all, he wasn't even sure that they could survive it. It was just another crazy element in a suicidal plan.

A noise behind them caused the pair to jump, turning to see a marauder running towards them. Anderson grabbed Shepard by the arm and pulled, hauling the pair into the Beam before the marauder could kill them. It was perhaps the strangest experience John had even had.

It was a similar feeling to that of skydiving, a completely uncontrollable free fall, yet he was definitely moving upwards. There was a pull dragging him towards the top of the Beam, but he still felt like he was falling. He had his eyes screwed shut during the transition, but he was aware of a blinding light around him. Then, as suddenly as it started, the sensation stopped. Rather than a deceleration it was just an abrupt halt against solid ground, his momentum causing Shepard to roll over and over until he smacked into a solid wall.

He just lay there for a few seconds, the urge to just fall asleep was particularly alluring. But before he could a loud thump was heard behind him, John forcing his head around to look behind him. Anderson was a few meters away, picking himself up slowly from the ground. As the Admiral got up Shepard had a chance to check him over for the first time, noticing a score of injuries across his body. There were no burns like his own, but there was a large quantity of blood seeping out of a particularly bad wound on his chest. Anderson walked over to Shepard, again helping him to his feet slowly.

"What happened to you Anderson?" He gestured to the chest wound.

"Ah, a rather persistent brute. But what happened to you?"

John swallowed back a mouthful of bile before speaking sarcastically. "What didn't happen to me?"

Anderson gave him a small smile before turning, looking around their surroundings. Shepard looked around too, taking in the strange scene. They were in a dark corridor, the only light present being red emergency lighting. It resembled a maintenance area of sorts, but a rather grim one. Dozens of dead bodies were cast around the area, heaped in large piles at the sides of the tunnel. Looking down the tunnel many more could be seen, Shepard reckoned there were hundreds there. Anderson was staring at the piles of bodies, a look of disgust across his face.

"Lets find the controls and finish this."

Shepard nodded. There seemed to be no other way except forward down the tunnel so they began to walk, both moving slowly from their injuries. John was still in absolute agony but pressed forwards anyway, clutching his stomach. He refused help from Anderson, he suspected that the Admiral's injury was a lot worse than he let on. Anderson broke the silence first.

"So, where do you suppose we are?"

"I'm not sure," Shepard glanced to his right, noticing a Keeper sorting through the dead bodies. It grabbed a helmet from the head of one corpse, studying it in it's claws. "No part of the Citadel I've been to before. Maybe the Keeper tunnels?"

"Could be, no ones ever gotten into them before," Anderson raised his right arm, attempting to work his omni-tool. It glowed for a second before sparking out again, refusing to work. "But how do we get to the Citadel Tower from here?"

"I'm not sure." As they walked John began to think that over, not just to mask the pain. The only way they could get open the arms was the control centre in the Council chambers, as far as he knew there was no other way.

"You know," Shepard turned his head to look at Anderson. "It kinda reminds me of your description of the Collector Base. You think they're making a Reaper in here?"

"Possibly, yeah," It did remind him of the Base – dark, sinister, and full of human remains. "There's no where else big enough that I can think of to create one. And there's easy access to humans from Earth."

Anderson shook his head sadly, John noticing that he was trying not to look at the corpses. He decided not to as well, it wasn't just soldiers in the piles but women and children too.

They walked until they were a few metres from a large wall in front of them at the end of the corridor. It was of a different colour to the other walls around them and had a thin black line down the middle of it, suggesting that it was a door. This proved to be true, motion detectors opening it as they approached.

Moving through the door both of the pair got a huge shock, looking to each other in surprise. Ahead was a ramp leading down to a bridge of some kind, another ramp moving back upwards beyond it. At the top of it was a gap with soft, yellow light streaming through from above. They nodded to one another before descending the ramp, Shepard careful not to fall in his already injured state.

As they dropped downwards Shepard looked to his left and right. Panels dropped upwards and down, lightening striking between some of them, it was a similar set up to the dampeners of the Shadow Broker's Base. As they went further down he saw how much further the chamber extended to either side, eventually realising that it curved out of view. They couldn't be in the Presidium ring, otherwise that would mean they were walking sideways and in the wrong direction. In addition the curvature was to steep. There was another section that they could be in however.

"Anderson, look at the curvature," He pointed roughly with one arm to their sides, the effort actually quite difficult. "And look at the size. There's only one place we could be."

His eyes widened, Shepard could see the wheels turning in his head. "My god! But that would mean that we're walking towards..."

"The Tower." Shepard finished off Anderson's sentence with some hope, if they could find a way up then they could open the arms.

They moved across the bridge and to the other side, starting up the ramp ahead. Their progress was slow, both soldiers deteriorating quickly. By the top few metres of the ramp Shepard was practically dragging himself up, the gradient so steep that he could use all fours to ascend. Then they reached the top, both pulling themselves to their feet.

They had indeed been correct of where they were. Now they had a clear view of the interior of the Citadel, orange glows from what were presumably fires. Shepard's gaze dropped to something a few metres ahead, standing at the edge of the circular room they were in.

"It's a control panel Shepard." Anderson took a few steps forward but then stopped, pausing in mid stride. Shepard made to follow but found he couldn't move. His body was locked in place, his muscles simply not obeying his mind. The haze of biotics surrounded his body, the familiar feeling seeping into his flesh. It was almost relaxing and calming, similar to the effect Miranda could place on him with her biotics. But the source of this power soon became known.

"Shepard. I was sure we would finally meet face to face before the end," Shepard scowled at the familiar voice. It would be The Illusive Man who stops them before the very end. "And Anderson too, the mentor and his protégé."

John tried to crane his head around but he couldn't even move his neck muscles. Footsteps became audible, getting louder with each step. Anderson was still routed in place, trying his hardest to get free as he spoke with pure venom.

"You."

"Yes, me," Now The Illusive Man walked past Shepard, taking purposeful strides. There was no cigarette in his hands, no glass of bourbon either. But Shepard did notice something new, snaking blue lines ascending the tycoon's neck. The glint of a metallic substance was also there, betraying the Reaper tech that was implanted in him. "It's a shame that we have to be enemies."

"Are you serious?" Shepard scoffed. The man sounded like an exact copy of Saren, he was completely under Reaper influence. "You think you can control Harbinger and the Reapers!"

"I can Shepard, I just need the Crucible."

Then The Illusive Man turned around, facing Shepard for the first time. It was a disgusting sight, unnerving for Shepard even after all he had seen. The skin around his chin and eyes was blackened and dead, peeling back to reveal a maze of silver and blue Reaper tech. The blue was a similar colour to that of his eyes, only serving to accentuate his inhumanity. The Illusive Man was only a step away from being a complete husk.

"You can't control them," Anderson was hissing in pain, Shepard feeling considerably worse as well. They were both held in awkward positions, completely unsupported except by the biotics. He thought quickly as Anderson continued to talk. "They control you though."

"You're wrong there Admiral," The Illusive Man didn't react to the provocation, replying with cool confidence. "Just because I was prepared to make the hard decisions, to fight the Alliance and the Council, does not make me indoctrinated."

"I bet that Reaper tech does though." The Illusive Man sneered at Anderson, simply ignoring the comment. They were going to have to talk their way out of there, and blind insults wouldn't work. Shepard thought back to his confrontation with Saren, when he had talked him down. He had reasoned with the Turian, appealed to what little remained of the Turian. If he could do the same here, they could talk The Illusive Man down as well.

"Well what about Sanctuary then?" Shepard started off slowly. "Sacrificing thousands of refugees for sick experiments, yet you claim to want the best for humanity."

"And I do, that was the way to progress. The work at Sanctuary was vital," The tycoon spread his arms wide as if preaching to them. "The sacrifices were unfortunate and won't be forgotten, they died for my victory."

So guilt wouldn't work, they had to think of something else. Anderson tried a new tactic.

"While we're debating the Reapers are claiming more lives, if we destroy them now it's over."

Shepard took up his line, trying to lay on doubt for The Illusive Man. "That's all you've been doing during the war, pointlessly fighting the Alliance, giving the Reapers yet another advantage over us."

He didn't miss a beat before replying. "We are fighting for two different things, and you were meddling in my affairs."

"Well we know you have ulterior motives," John narrowed his eyes. "In the short term..."

"Ah, but that is your problem Shepard. Actually it's a problem for both of you," The Illusive Man walked around in circles, still full of confidence as he interrupted Shepard. He didn't seem to have any trouble maintaining the biotic field, though Shepard doubted if they could kill him even if they were free – they were only getting weaker. "You can only see the short term, in fact Shepard you're very good at the short term. That was the reason why I brought you back. But the long term – you can't see past your emotions to find the best path."

"I can see the Reapers winning." John challenged him.

"They cannot win, I am so close now," Shepard could see a quick flash of anger cross his face, they were getting somewhere now but they had to hurry up. "But you two can never understand. You're soldiers, trained to destroy. That's all you do, without a second thought."

Second thoughts, Shepard could go with that. "Yes we may not have second thoughts, but that means we never hesitate. What if you hesitate with the Reapers, what if you give them just enough to complete their hold over you? What if you just can't do it?"

"I..." He put his head in his hands, shaking it slightly in a display of weakness. Then he raised his head again, his face betraying his diminished determination. "I can do it."

He sounded more like he was trying to convince himself rather than them. Anderson pressed him again, taking his lead from Shepard.

"You're being controlled, and a small part of you knows it."

"No! I am in control, no one tells me what to do!" The Illusive Man shouted, rage crossing his features. His erratic behaviour was a sign of his internal struggle, the fight for control. He walked over to Anderson, pulling the Carnifex pistol from it's holster. He gestured with it wildly as he spook. "I will take humanity to a new age, we'll surpass the other races. Only the Reapers can do it for us, I know I'm right. I'm sure I am."

"And what if you're not?"

"But look at their power, look what they can do!" With that he leaned forwards, forming his fist into a ball surrounded by biotic energy. As he closed his hand Anderson was hurled backwards, landing with a loud crunch. Then The Illusive Man forced the gun into Shepard's hand and stood back, grinning like a madman. Then he formed his hand into a fist, yanking backwards. Shepard's arm was forced downwards to Anderson's form, the gun aimed at his leg. Then the tycoon gestured again, forcing Shepard's finger to pull the trigger. To his horror a round left the barrel, striking the Admiral in the stomach. He could do nothing except watch, sadly closing his eyes before speaking.

"That power bears a cost though, one that you may not be able to bear," Shepard was talking desperately now, Anderson was struggling to stay awake and blood poured from his torso. "What if you're not strong enough?"

"I am strong."

"What about in a few years, when you can't go on controlling them?" John managed to raise his head as he said this, The Illusive Man's power was waning.

"But...I only want the best for humanity."

And now he was there, practically through to him. All he had to do was to get him to let go completely.

"I know you do, that's what I want too," Shepard spoke calmly to him, despite the fact he wanted nothing more than to put a bullet in his head. "So let us finish this."

"I...I," The Illusive Man was bending over, adopting the posture of a man who was losing everything. Then he looked up at Shepard, a pleading look in his eyes. "I tried Shepard, but they were too strong..."

Then he stormed over to Shepard, ripping the gun from his grasp. Shepard closed his eyes and prepared for the kill shot but again it never came, the gun going off but without any more pain for him. As the shot went off Shepard dropped to the ground, landing next to Anderson in a heap. He craned his head to the right, looking towards The Illusive Man. The pistol was loosely in his hand, blood streaming from a self inflicted wound in his temple.

After a few seconds on the ground Shepard dragged himself up, slowly limping over to the console. It was indeed a replica of the control panel in the Council Chambers but this one didn't need an override virus to work it – in fact it looked like a master control. Could the one in the Council chamber be merely a link to this one? He looked over the various controls, noticing one marked with an icon of the Citadel arms and pressed it. Then he took a couple of steps backwards, crashing down next to Anderson. The Admiral had now managed to sit up, one hand pressed over the new wound in his torso.

They watched the arms open in silence, admiring the view of Earth. Despite the obvious glow of explosions and fires it was still a sight, made all the more special by the sun's rays glittering over the top.

"Quite a view."

"Yeah," Shepard chuckled. "Best seats in the house."

"It's been so long," Anderson shook his head. "Since I just sat down."

"I know what you mean." Shepard certainly did, he couldn't remember the last time he had nothing to do.

"So what's next for you commander?"

"I don't know," Shepard turned his head to regard the Admiral, hissing with pain before speaking. "I know what I want, but I have no idea if I'll be able to get it."

"I think you want Miss Lawson," Anderson spoke in a light tone, jovial even. "And don't worry, Hackett will understand. I think he'll be the first one to say you deserve a life of your own now."

"I thought you'd be the one to help me with that."

Anderson gave him a sad smile. "I think I'm done for Shepard, an old man can only take so much."

"No you can't..."

"I think it's my time."

"But what about Kahlee Sanders?" He protested weakly. "You and her have something, right?"

"We did. I suppose we still do," The Admiral shook his head slowly. His body was slouching down even further now, he was slipping away quickly. "But I'm not going to get out of this alive."

"We can, together." He reached for his last pouch of medi-gel, about to rip it open. Anderson lay a hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Save it for yourself," The man coughed, spitting out a mouthful of blood. He spoke again in a much weaker voice. "You have a life to lead now, I've had my time. But Shepard...I'm proud of you."

"Thanks Anderson." Praise from David Anderson was perhaps the most important for Shepard, he had been a truly pivotal man in his life. He looked sadly at the Admiral as he spoke his final words.

"You did good son," Anderson's head drooped downwards even further. "You did good."

And with that he slipped away, leaving Shepard on his own. Despite what Anderson had said, there was little chance of him making it back. He was feeling worse by the second and his omni-tool was broken, there was no way to get any communications out. So he lay backwards, closing his eyes and thinking of Miranda with a smile. Then he let sleep overcome him, feeling content for the first time in years.

XXXXXXXX

"Wake up."

Shepard stirred, the light pitch of the voice confusing him slightly. It sounded like a child's voice but that was impossible, a child couldn't have gotten to the Citadel – not where he had ended up anyway. Was he dreaming? Was he dying?

"Open your eyes," The voice spoke with more force this time. John tried furiously to obey it's command. "Get up."

Eventually he found the strength to force his eyes open, searching for the source of the voice. To his shock there was a child with him, a ghostly and familiar child. It was the young boy who he had found on Earth, the one who had plagued his dreams for months. The child who he had seen die on Earth.

He looked past the child to take in his surroundings, again receiving a shock. He was kneeling on a metal panelled floor that sloped upwards gently. Ahead of him was a giant beam of light which he realised was connected to the Crucible above him. Looking around he could see the vicious space battle taking place between the allied fleets and the Reapers, Earth burning below him. That instantly took the remains of sleep from him – the Crucible had failed.

"I'm not dead?" His voice came out in a rasp, barely able to contain the pain that plagued his body.

"No, you are not," The child took a step closer. "You must get up, we have much to discuss."

Shepard gave the child a puzzled expression in response, he was entirely confused with the whole situation. The only thing he was sure of was that the child was definitely not just a child.

John decided to try and stand up. He planted one foot on the ground, pushing the knee of his other leg upwards. The pain was incredible as he stood up but he gritted his teeth, forcing himself to carry on. He had to see this through. Shepard swayed on his feet slightly, steadying himself by spreading his arms out. He looked at the 'child', maybe it had some answers. He started with the most pressing issue.

"Why hasn't the Crucible worked?"

"You have not yet used it." It gave the answer in a rather patronising tone, as if he should already know this.

"How do I use it then? Can you help me stop the Reapers?" His words came out as a bit of a plea. Judging by the intensity of the battle around him, the Crucible wouldn't stay safe for long.

"I may be able to help you, the Reapers are my solution."

The child turned around and began to walk up the ramp. John followed slowly, each footstep taking more effort than the last. The child kept a slow pace for him however. His thoughts were occupied by it's last sentence, what did it mean 'my solution'?

"Solution to what?"

The child took another two steps before stopping, turning it's head to regard John. "To chaos."

Then it walked onwards, reaching the end of the ramp. John followed again, still completely confused, reaching the top of the ramp himself. In front of him was the beam to the Crucible, beyond a circular platform. The platform had three items on it that were made of the same silvery substance as the child. He realised that two looked like stools with the third as a table in between. His suspicions were confirmed when the child walked over to one and sat down, gesturing towards the other one. John approached cautiously, placing a hand on the stool to check that he could use it. It felt solid so he sat down, surprised that it supported his weight just like a normal chair.

Then he glanced at the table in front, becoming entranced by the silvery substance that shifted across the top. Images began to form on top, shocking Shepard as he began to recognise them. They were of people he knew, beginning with Garrus. The pictures changed between the different members of his various teams over the years, from the team that took down Saren to his current squad. Then it stopped on a final picture, an image of Miranda and him walking arm in arm on the Citadel.

"I have been watching you John Shepard."

"So you have," He looked up at the child, still with no clue as to what it was and what it was planning. "Do I want to know why?"

"Since Eden Prime I have followed you, watching as you defeated Sovereign first and then Harbinger and the Collectors" As it spoke it acted just like a child of that age would, kicking it's legs back and forth and fidgeting with it's hands. The sight was thoroughly unnerving. "I have followed your progress through the war, watching your actions, your decisions, and their consequences."

"And?"

"And I am impressed. You fight this war for others, not just for those you know, but for many others you will never meet – even those who are not yet born."

He shook his head in response. "Everyone who fights the Reapers does that, it doesn't differentiate them from me."

"You may think that, but you are wrong," The child countered, shaking it's own head. "Unlike many of the leaders of your armies you make the decisions that help the majority of people, not just specifically your own race. I have seen you choose what is right for all over what is right for your kindred. And that makes you the ideal person to decide the future of the Reapers with me."

Definitely not just a child then. "And what are you exactly?"

The child looked him straight in the eyes as it responded. "I am the Catalyst."

"What?" Shepard was confused, that wasn't what he had been expecting. "I thought the Citadel was the Catalyst."

"The Citadel is a part of me." Again it spoke as if he should already know this.

"Right," That wasn't exactly the explanation that he was expecting either, but there were more pressing issues now. Now though, he had a suspicion as to what this child actually was."So you created the Reapers?"

"Yes." The child nodded enthusiastically as it replied.

"Then you're the intelligence the Leviathans created," His tone dropped to one of loathing as he delivered his conclusion. This thing was responsible for causing an immeasurable number of deaths over hundreds of thousands of years. "The one that betrayed them."

"Yes they did create me, but I never betrayed them," It spoke surprisingly calmly as it corrected him. "They tasked me with preserving Organic life from Synthetic life but they failed to realise that they were part of the problem. I harvested them to create the first Reaper – Harbinger."

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "That's still betrayal in my book."

"It is merely fulfilling my mandate."

"If you say so," John was pretty disgusted with how indifferently it talked of mass genocide, it didn't make sense that this thing was on the Citadel yet only now had the station fallen to the Reapers. "There's one thing I do want to know now though."

"What?" The child cocked it's head, adopting the look of an inquisitive youth. Shepard ignored it's action and proceeded to speak.

"If you control the Reapers then why did Sovereign have to come here to open the relay to dark space? Why didn't you do that?" Before allowing it to answer he had another thought. "And why did the Reapers not initially know that the Citadel was the Catalyst? The Illusive Man had to tell them."

"That is because I do not control the Reapers, you have made that assumption yourself," Now Shepard cocked his head, involuntarily causing a spasm of pain to shoot up his neck. "I created them, I gave them a purpose and a goal. But I allow them to achieve it through their own means. Harbinger is unaware of my existence."

"But why?" It made no sense to him, it would have saved Sovereign a lot of trouble.

"I created the Reapers to solve Leviathan's problem but I knew it would never last," It gestured towards the space battle around them. "In the beginning I decided that I would never aid them to complete the harvest of any cycle. Otherwise, I would never know if they were truly effective as a solution."

Shepard looked upwards as well, the Reapers were tearing apart what remained of the fleets. "Well they're going to win this one without any help."

"No they are not. The fact that you have made it here, the first organic to do so, proves that they are no longer a viable solution," The child looked back towards him. "You can stop them now, only my intervention would allow them to complete the harvest."

That was a worry, he had no idea of the thing's motives. "But you could choose to do so?"

"Yes, however every cycle has improved upon the previous one, each one adapts, giving it a better chance of survival against the Reapers," It actually gave him a smile, a strange grin across it's ghostly features. "To intervene and complete the harvest would be a last resort but it would be counterproductive – the next cycle will get to this stage or even further."

That did make sense to John."So we have to decide what to do."

"Yes we do. Together we will decide on the new solution for the galaxy."

There was only one option for Shepard. "Well, we destroy the Reapers for a start."

"That is not an option."

Shepard gave the child an incredulous look, how could there be any other way. "No, it's the ideal solution."

"It is illogical, short sighted even," Now the child sounded like The Illusive Man, Shepard was prepared to bet that it was about to suggest controlling the Reapers to him. "All you will do is damn your races to a future without the protection provided by the Reapers."

"Protection?" John scoffed, gesturing around him at the continuing battle. "I don't see how this is protection."

"Then I will explain my logic."

He gave it a glare and replied in the most venomous tone he could. "Please do."

The child gestured to the table in front, more images appearing on it. Then the child began to speak accompanying the various clips.

"Organics evolve naturally and over time they develop technology," The table displayed the standard evolution line of humans from apes that Shepard had seen countless times before. "Then they reach a stage where their technology becomes truly advanced, they can create artificial intelligences," Now the picture changed to show the Quarians developing the Geth in laboratories, followed by images of Geth farming units hard at work. "At first these AI help your races, they are useful to you."

"But then they evolve just like you did, becoming more advanced at an astounding rate. Then they surpass you and have no need for their creators. Logically their next step is to remove you as you are a threat," Now the image changed to show the first battles of the Morning War, Geth and Quarians trading fire with one another. That was followed by an image of the vast Geth fleets. "Then the synthetics would spread across the galaxy, they would eliminate all life that tries to compete with them. Eventually there would be no organic life left in the galaxy."

The table went back to it's misty colour, Shepard looking back up at the child. "So you harvest the organics when they are able to produce AI?"

"Yes."

He shook his head, still unconvinced. He supposed that it could be logical to a machine, but for an organic it was ridiculous."It's still barbaric."

"It may seem like that to you, but it is necessary for your survival." That confirmed his thoughts.

"And you think that if we destroyed the Reaper's then this would happen?"

"Yes. And that is why we need a different solution."

It was still puzzling to John as to why the intelligence didn't just get on with whichever solution it thought was best. "You can't make the decision on your own?"

"There are many solutions available, though I could choose one. However I want a viewpoint from an organic and you are the most qualified of organics to help me. Then I am unlikely to make an error."

"If you say so, though you already know my viewpoint," Shepard shook his head, he couldn't see any other way except for destroying the Reapers. "I'm guessing you need the Crucible as well?"

"No, It is merely a power source. I could have found another way," The child leaned forwards. "And it also serves as a testament to the failure of the Reapers, it's concept should never have survived the last cycle."

"OK then," Shepard breathed out slowly, exhaling a hiss of pain. Though the conversation had taken his mind from his injuries, they were far from gone. "What if we can't reach an agreement?"

"Then I will have no choice but to intervene and allow the Reapers to win. It would be a very poor choice but I would have no option. Then I will make the decision with the next cycle."

Shepard cursed internally, this was going to be difficult. He remained silent for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts. There was no other solution that the inhabitants of the galaxy would accept other than the destruction of the Reapers, it was the only way to reliably ensure their survival. He tried to think of what other options there could be, but there was nothing he could think of beyond controlling them – and that was a route he would not go down. He was going to have to take a risk, to gamble their future with this intelligence.

"Well I want the Reapers destroyed, there isn't another choice that we organics would want," He made sure to speak as if in a tantrum, gesturing extravagantly with his arms. "Looks like you're going to have to intervene."

The child furrowed it's brows. "You aren't going to try and persuade me?"

That took him by surprise. "What?"

"You have ended many conflicts through words rather than actions, you have even persuaded two individuals out of indoctrination. You see many things that others don't." Shepard eyed it suspiciously. "Despite it's intelligence, Harbinger believes that you currently lie dead on Earth. It has overlooked you and your abilities once again and that is a mistake I will not make."

A smile began to cross his face, perhaps there was a way he could do this. He double checked with the child, just to make sure he hadn't been hearing things in his injured state. "So if I can prove that it is a viable solution..."

"Then I would consider complying. Your chances are significantly low however, I cannot find reasons to support your view."

Shepard nodded, a look of determination crossing his features. "Well I'll try."

"It seems that you always do." He raised an eyebrow, was that an attempt at humour from it?

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, bringing up the many conversations he had had about the Reapers with various people. He knew he had to form logical steps, despite it's intelligence this was still a machine – it thought in terms of base logic. He wasn't quite sure where to start but he began with the basics that he had talked through with the child itself, double checking his facts.

"OK then. So your mandate is to protect organic life from the threat of the synthetics we create, right?"

The child folded it's arms, acting almost in a bored manner. "I have already told you this."

"And, you reckon that all of the following cycles will get to this stage right?"

It nodded. "It is assured."

"That means that you will have this conversation with another organic in fifty thousand years, if the cycle continues that is."

Now it actually yawned, frustrating Shepard with how casually it acted. "Yes."

"Well then," He decided to work with that, thinking over what the various people he knew would do in this situation. Not just humans, Asari, or Turian but also what Javik would say – a member of another cycle. He came to a conclusion quickly, realising all would hold the same belief. "Any organic in the same position as me would say the same thing, the destruction of the Reapers and nothing else."

The child cocked it's head again, now showing signs of interest. "Why?"

"Because..." Suddenly the answer became clear to him, the reason behind everything he had done since Eden Prime. "Because of the Reaper cycle. Because of how the Reapers operate."

"I do not see..."

He interrupted the child. "The Reapers come out of nowhere and lay siege to the galaxy. They destroy our cities, murder our soldiers, capture and mutate our entire population," He gestured wildly as he reeled off the list, then flinging one arm outwards to point away from Earth and into space. "Then they leave, only to come back fifty thousand years later and do it again."

The child shrugged. "So?"

He brought his arms back to his body, speaking in a very quiet and sad tone. "Anyone in my position can see the extent of what you've done, of how disgusting your solution actually is."

Now it shook it's head, a slight look of disappointment crossing it's face. "Emotion is no reason..."

"But it is! Don't you see? Your Reapers are an affront to everything the majority of sentient beings believe, in our eyes you are as evil as it is possible to be," Now he raised his voice again, practically shouting at the child as he accused it. "Any organic would want nothing but death for you and your Reapers. To allow the Reapers to get away with what they have done, not just in this cycle but in all the cycles, would be an atrocity."

The child stood up and walked a few paces away from him, gazing at Earth with it's back turned to Shepard. "Then I will wait for a civilisation who can make a rational decision."

"You will never find one, there will never be one," He remembered what the child had said earlier. "And all the while, as you wait, the cycles get stronger. It'll get to a stage when they'll never need the Crucible either, they'll defeat the Reapers conventionally. It'll take a long time, but it'll happen eventually."

"That leaves them in a position without my protection from their cycle's synthetics." It did not turn around as it spoke, but it had grasped what Shepard was working towards.

He jumped at the chance. "Exactly!"

"Except," His heart sank as it turned around, shaking it's head once more. "That is the situation you would be in if I destroy the Reapers now, I may as well decide on a solution on my own."

He searched for something else, anything else that he could add. There had to be something unique to this cycle, something that would make it worth sparing and the Reapers worth destroying at the same time. John's thoughts raced around thinking of every possibility, looking for a logical answer. After a few seconds he sighed, his head dropping down. There was nothing.

"You could control them you know? You could..."

"Wait!" His face lit up, there was something else, something that could clinch it. "You've been watching everything right? Even all that has happened today? At our command centre?"

"Yes, they were not as secure as you thought."

"Then what was the last thing that EDI, the synthetic on the Normandy, said to me?"

It turned it's head, regarding him suspiciously at first, then it's eyes widened in a look of shock. In fact it looked too stunned to say anything. John pressed his point.

"She," He stressed the word. "She said that she feels alive, and she does. EDI has feelings, she has emotions, she's in a relationship with a human for god's sake!"

"That is valid," The child put a hand under it's chin, speaking slowly. "But there are other syn..."

"Yes, I know. But the Geth are the same," Shepard began to laugh, it was a gruff, rasping sound, but it was a genuine laugh. "They are all individuals, Legion sacrificed itself to give them emotions and individuality. They have become a people in their own right."

"They..." The child walked forwards, still with a stunned look across it's face. Then it whispered to him, in a hushed tone of awe."They are truly alive."

"We have achieved not only peace, but our synthetics have surpassed being synthetic. They may not be made of flesh, but they're organic inside now," John stood up, ignoring the pain and taking slow steps towards the child. He knelt down in front of it, his face mere inches from it's own. "If you complete the harvest of our cycle you will lose that, and there's no certainty that any other cycle will achieve this."

The child stared at him, blinking steadily. "You will accept nothing other than the destruction of the Reapers?"

"Yes. Either destroy us and lose the chance of true harmony between organics and synthetics, or destroy the Reapers," He paused before uttering three words, three words that he had never had chance to give to other people before. "It's your choice."

**A/N So there it is guys. Please let me know if it was the right kind of thing or if it was complete drivel – I want to know either way. Changes will be made if it needs it. **

**On to the end, I reckon there's two more chapters in this.**

**By the way I am planning a sequel, more on that in a few days.**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N This was was quite tricky to write, after I finished the draft there was a whole bunch of plot holes that I had inadvertently created. Think I've solved most of them though.**

**13/06/2013 – Major editing throughout**

Chapter 18 – Rescue

Miranda leant out of cover with an outstretched hand, hurling a biotic warp at a cannibal just in front of her. The blast took the creature in the chest, tearing a hole across it's body. She ducked back behind the wall, gathering her strength for another blast.

"Nice one Cheerleader."

Miranda glanced at her companion, not justifying Jack with a response. The other woman popped up from behind her own wall section, releasing a potent shock wave towards the enemy. Despite her dislike of the woman, Miranda knew that there weren't many people who could hold their own like Jack. There was the added bonus that the two knew each others fighting style from the Collector mission as well, each knew that they could trust the other in the intense combat.

Then she leant out of cover again, this time overloading the shields of a marauder before slamming it against a wall. As she did so she caught sight of her other companion, loping across the ground in front of them. Eezo was a particularly fascinating creature, Miranda had never heard of a naturally biotic Varren before. In fact she was highly impressed with both it's abilities and it's obedience, it followed Jack's commands to the letter. She chuckled as it ran happily over to a pair of husks, releasing a rather powerful shock wave on Jack's command and knocking them to the floor. Then it set about ripping into them with it's powerful jaws, finishing off the creatures.

"Hey," Miranda turned to look at Jack again, the woman was giving her an odd look. "What's so funny Cheerleader?"

"Just Eezo," Miranda incinerated another husk as she spoke. "And why do you still call me that? You know I'm not with Cerberus any more, despite what you would like to think."

Jack gave her a shrug as she pulled a pair of cannibals off their feet and into the air. "You're still a Cheerleader, just not one for Cerberus."

Now it was Miranda's turn to give an odd look. "What?"

"Well," Jack dropped back down into cover, giving Miranda a smug look. "You're Shepard's Cheerleader now, right?"

Miranda thought about that for a second, a smile coming across her face as she did so. In a way she supposed she was, she owed no one her loyalty or trust but gave it almost freely to Shepard. Only a year ago the thought of relinquishing any independence or control over her life would have been ridiculous. But now Miranda relished the fact that she had someone in whom she could trust and confide other than Oriana, and that was what she was now fighting for. There was no way she would admit that though to anyone though, especially not to Jack. Instead she glossed over the comment, giving the convict a shrug.

"Whatever," With that she leant out of cover again, attacking again with biotics before shouting to Jack. "Though this is still going badly."

"I kno...Eezo, shock left!" The Varren complied, turning to it's left and sending a shock wave at a pair of enemies trying to flank it. Jack turned back to her. "Can we get any support at all?"

"Negative, forces are stretched too thinly." That was a complete understatement. Several hours ago the Hammer offensive on the Beam had begun but a large force had been left behind as a rearguard. Originally Miranda had held this street with two marine squads and a Turian sniper unit. Now they were all dead, Jack having been re-deployed from her students to help Miranda as the last men fell. The next few hours had passed as one drawn out engagement with no support. The rearguard was close to collapsing now, the constant re-deployment of troops to patch areas taking its toll. Both Miranda and Jack were out of ammunition and couldn't keep up a biotic only defence for long, they were practically running on empty.

"Shit, hope your boyfriend does this quickly then." Jack shook her head as she launched another biotic projectile towards the enemy.

Miranda didn't catch the end of Jack's sentence, she was busy dropping back behind cover again. A ravager had appeared across the other side of the street from them, tracking her with it's cannons. Now though she was pinned, unable to move in any direction out of cover, and Jack would soon be overwhelmed on her own. Miranda made a decision there and then, erecting a biotic barrier around herself.

She dashed out of cover to her right, moving from the middle of the street to the other side. The ravager fired at her, shots striking the purple haze of the barrier. It held for the first few shots but Miranda's strength wavered as she increased her speed to dash the last few metres. She wasn't quite quick enough though, her barrier dying and a shot ripping into her ankle. She crashed down onto the floor, cursing in pain. Miranda was still several metres from cover and husks were approaching rapidly, despite her efforts she couldn't get up before the ravager noticed her.

Jack noticed Miranda struggling to get clear, desperately looking for a method to distract the ravager. She could only come up with one plan, forcing herself to make the hard decision.

"Eezo, go!" The convict pointed at the ravager, the Varren tearing off straight away. The Rachni turned it's attention to the beast, firing at Eezo. Jack used the distraction to run across the street, hurling the husks from Miranda with a biotic push. She dropped down by the Miranda and hoisted her over her arm, dragging her into cover.

"Thanks Jack." Miranda gave Jack a heartfelt smile.

"Yeah well, you weigh a fucking ton," Jack peeked out of cover before turning back. "Not surprising with those tits." Then she stepped out of cover again, running out of her view. Miranda laughed whilst tearing the cloth of her catsuit around her ankle, preparing to bind the wound after using her last pack of medi-gel. She paused before opening it, hearing a heartbreaking pine from the street.

Jack rushed back into view, dragging Eezo in her arms. The poor beast had a large wound in it's shoulder from the ravager, blood streaming down it's flanks. Jack set it down on the floor carefully with a sad expression on her face before turning back to the fight with a look of blind rage.

"Some ones got to hold this fucking street."

"I'll be up now, hang on." Miranda took another look at the Varren, it had taken that wound to allow her to get to safety – more importantly Jack had sacrificed it for her. She had never been one for pets, that Varren that followed Shepard around on Tuchunka had annoyed her to no end, but in this war it was the small acts of compassion that separated them from the Reapers. She decided that it needed the medi-gel more than her and opened the medi-gel pack, rubbing the cool gel into Eezo's shoulder whilst stroking it's head softly. Then she ripped the entire arm off her catsuit, binding around it's leg and over the wound. Miranda gave it an affectionate pat on the head before hobbling up, forcing herself to move to the edge of cover.

Jack was in the middle of the street causing absolute chaos, whirling shock waves and biotic punches around her, but Miranda could see that it wasn't going to be enough. Brutes were arriving from the other side of the street in large numbers, heading straight for them. She shouted a warning to Jack, telling her to pull back. The convict sent out a particularly large shock wave before turning, running back to Miranda.

"Do we stay or do we fall back?"

Miranda considered Jack's question. "If we fall back it's yet another hole in the line.

"I thought Grunt had his Krogan company on standby?"

She shook her head. "They got called up to another hole about a half hour ago."

"Fuck," Jack rose up to attack again, dropping back down to avoid a hail of fire. "We're screwed, those brutes are gonna tear us apart. And what happened to your suit?"

Miranda shrugged. "Eezo needed that wound binding."

Then there was a gigantic bellow above them, a brute smashing aside the wall they were behind. Miranda and Jack crawled away from it, Miranda firing an incineration blast into it and Jack attempting to launch another shock wave. It ignored the biotic blast and focused on Miranda, walking menacingly towards her.

It raised a claw to strike her, about to slam it down and end her life. Then it stopped, lifting it's head to look upwards towards the Beam. She noticed the other brutes doing this too, following their gazes towards the top of the Beam. The top of it was no longer blue, a red pulse was travelling quickly down it towards the ground. Then it collided with the ground, causing the Beam to shatter and release a huge booming sound. Then came a second red blast, this time from above them in orbit. It swept across the horizon, rushing towards them at an incredible speed.

Miranda closed her eyes, expecting to be killed by the blast. Instead it merely passed over her, causing a warm fuzzy feeling across her body. Opening her eyes she took in the scene around her, a look of shock forming across her face. She was unharmed, so was Jack, but the brutes were all dead upon the ground. Further afield more Reaper corpses were evident, Miranda assuming that they were killed in the blast as well. There was only one possibility...

"He did it," Jack walked over to her, a wide smile across her face. "He fucking did it!"

Miranda smiled as well, looking upwards to see the inert shape of a Reaper falling out of the sky with red lightening dancing across it's hull. "Yes he did."

XXXXXXXX

Jack and Miranda slowly ascended the ramp into the command centre, Eezo limping behind. Miranda's action had saved the beast and given it's rather astonishing healing abilities a chance once the initial trauma had worn off. Miranda herself was limping, though her healing powers were even more effective than Eezo's. And there was of course the fact that she had a clear goal, one person to find.

They walked through the doors and into chaos. Men and women ran around, shouting to one another and trading data pads. Miranda assumed that they were trying to confirm whether the Reapers were actually gone, whether the allied forces could actually begin to celebrate.

They moved through the crowds towards the centre of the room, heading for a large throng of officers. The blue avatar of Admiral Hackett was visible through the QEC, talking to Major Coates urgently. Jack stopped walking but Miranda didn't, pushing through the officers to get in front of the communication device. She interrupted the Admiral mid sentence in her ice-queen tone.

"Where's Shepard?"

"Miss Lawson, I understand your..." He began to respond in a calming manner, Miranda cutting him off immediately.

"Where is he?" She put more force into her voice, adding a glare for extra effect.

"We don't know if he was the one who made it, but we have more pressing concerns," The Admiral gestured around him at the command center. "We don't even know if the Reapers are actually gone for good, we have to confirm that before we begin search and rescue."

"He did make it to the Beam, Anderson was with him," They all turned at the sound of the female voice, seeing a battered Ashley dragging Garrus who was in an even worse state. Medics ran over to them taking Garrus from Ashley as she continued to speak. "But he got shot by Harbinger, I've never seen anyone get up from injuries like those."

There was absolute silence in the room now, no one sure of what to do next. Then Hackett spoke, drawing everyone's attention with his commanding tone.

"Miss Lawson, you take a shuttle and get to the Citadel," She turned around to regard him. "We have to attend to our priorities before we can help but I'll have teams en route when we can spare them."

She gave him a nod, whilst it was irritating she understood that the allies had to place the safety of the galaxy as a priority. The Citadel was a big place to search, but she had an idea of where to begin. "Will do."

Then Miranda turned back around, walking straight out with Jack and Eezo in tow. She stopped when she passed Ashley and Garrus in the medical stations, Ashley speaking first.

"I would come but I need to look after him." She gestured over to Garrus, the Turian replying with absolute sincerity.

"I wish I could come as well," He sat up with a great effort, groaning in pain. "I know you'll bring him back."

"Are you OK?" Miranda gave him a concerned glance, eyeing up his mangled leg.

"We'll be fine, just go." She nodded in response to the Turian, leaving the pair in the med-bay.

In the streets below there was a line if shuttles, ready for take off. Miranda walked over to one, receiving a shout from a female officer as she opened the door.

"What do you think you're doing?" The officer marched up to them.

"Taking this shuttle up to the Citadel and recovering Commander Shepard." She spoke in a defiant tone but the officer foolishly pressed her.

"We have orders..."

"Be quiet," Miranda rounded on the woman. "I have Admiral Hackett's orders to do this. Now either find me a pilot or get lost."

The officer looked dumbfounded before realising she had made a mistake, backtracking away from Miranda. She set about preparing the shuttle for take off with Jack settling in the back, but stopped at the sound of people entering the shuttle. She turned to see Steve Cortez climbing into the shuttle, followed by Emily Wong.

"Miss Lawson, I hope you don't mind me being here," The young woman looked slightly nervous as she spoke. "I wanted to help out though."

She gave the woman a quick glance, realising that they may have need of help. "Suppose more people means a quicker search."

"I'll do whatever you need."

"Good," She turned to look at Steve Cortez. "Cortez, get us to the Citadel Tower."

"Aye ma'am." He sat down in the pilots chair, Miranda sitting down next to him. His hands danced across the shuttle controls as he raised it upwards, the engines whining as the shuttle rose from the ground. An image of Admiral Hackett appeared in front of her on the communication screen.

"Miss Lawson, we have just received word from Captain Bailey," That took her by surprise, she hadn't been sure whether anyone would be left alive on the Citadel. "He has arranged to meet you on a shuttle pad on the Tower itself.

"Sure, thank you Admiral."

"Hackett out."

As the image of the Admiral blanked out Cortez turned his head to look at Miranda.

"Where in the Tower do you think he will be?"

"The Council Chambers," Miranda had thought about this, there was no where else that he could be. There was no where else that had controls over the Citadel as far as she knew. "He had access to the Citadel controls and that's where they're located."

"Right, heading to Bailey's position."

"Good," Miranda looked down at her leg, checking the wound on her ankle. She was tapped on the shoulder, Jack handing her a medi-gel pack. She shook her head at the woman, refusing the pack. "We'll need those for John."

"Yeah, but he won't mind you using one," Jack gave her a smile. "I'm sure he would rather that you were OK."

"Fine." Miranda grudgingly took the pack from Jack, breaking open the pouch. She raised her leg off the floor and began to rub the cool gel into the wound, feeling the familiar tingling sensation as it immediately set to work.

Afterwards there wasn't much that she could do except sit in the chair, watching as the Citadel grew larger in the view screens. Surrounding them were the lifeless corpses of Reaper ships, drifting along through the debris fields of Reaper and allied battleships. There was no sign of any active ships however, Miranda supposing that the fleets must have fled from the blast. Thinking of that she searched for the Crucible that should have been docked onto the Citadel, wondering if the machine had survived. It was still near the station but was no longer attached to it, having sheared off the docking point and left a trail of debris from where it had been. Extensive damage covered it's flanks and shuttles were departing from it's evacuation points in droves.

Their shuttle eventually came closer to the Citadel, circling around the Presidium Tower before beginning it's approach. Steve took them to a landing pad near the C-Sec headquarters, about half way up the tower. As soon as it was down Miranda was up, opening the door and stepping out of the shuttle. She walked out and across the platform, telling Steve and Emily to stay put with Jack and Eezo following behind her.

At the edge of the docking bay was a door flanked by two Turian C-Sec guards. As they approached the door opened, revealing Captain Bailey with another pair of officers.

"Miss Lawson, Admiral Hackett informed us you were coming."

She nodded as she came closer, Bailey and the guards stepping aside to let her past. Now they were in a courtyard, Miranda recognising exactly which one. She walked straight over to the elevator in front of them that travelled up to the Council Chambers, steeping inside and waiting for the others to pile in before selecting the top floor. Bailey gave her an inquisitive look but said nothing. Jack piped up instead, breaking the silence.

"So how come you guys managed to survive?"

"We were lucky, very lucky," Bailey leaned against the elevator wall as he spoke. "The Reapers wanted to move the station but didn't seem so bothered as to actually seizing control of the population. We managed to evacuate most of the people to the upper wards and the Presidium before locking down those areas securely."

Jack nodded her head approvingly. "Was there much fighting?"

"Only for certain areas like the docks," Bailey furrowed his eyebrows, musing to himself. "It was strange though, once they closed the arms they didn't reinforce their troops. I'm guessing that they were more concerned with your offensive, to be honest they could have just left us to starve."

Miranda looked up at him. "Why didn't you just open the arms then? You still had control of the Tower."

"Firstly, we had no communications with anyone on the outside. We didn't know you needed them open," He counted on his fingers. "Secondly, we couldn't actually use the controls."

Miranda shrugged. "Shepard did."

"Not in the Tower," He shook his head. "If you've come up here to find him then you're looking in the wrong place."

"What do..." Miranda trailed off as the doors opened, admitting them to the Council Chambers. The area was just like the command centre on Earth, a hive of frantic activity. She turned back to Bailey, a look of shock across her face. If Shepard had of come here then they would already have him. "You haven't seen him?"

"No," He began to walk, the others following him. They passed through the chambers towards the other end, heading for the Council's balcony. "We've had a command centre here since the Reapers arrived. And take a look at the controls for yourself."

Miranda looked where he pointed, staring at the panels around the walkway in front of where the Council usually stood. These were the controls that had been used by the Council and C-Sec since the discovery of the Citadel, the only known ways of controlling the station. Now they were glowing red, error messages plastered over the controls.

"I don't follow you." Jack was peering at them with interest and confusion, looking between Miranda and Bailey for answers.

"We tried everything. Override codes from the Councillors, engineers trying to hack them, we even had a Geth that said it was simply locked out of the system."

"No, this can't be possible," Miranda looked around, searching wildly for any sign of Shepard. There was nothing though, he would have been here if he had used this control panel. When she spoke she was speaking in a pleading voice without intending to, it was a sign of her desperation. "But this means he could be anywhere, do we even know where the Crucible was activated from?"

"For an emotionally detached person, you sure aren't particularly composed."

Miranda inwardly groaned at the confident voice, cursing the owners arrival. She had never been fond of Aria T'Loak, in fact the criminal woman disgusted her in a lot of ways. She was a pirate queen, regardless of how she tried to dress her actions. She gritted her teeth as she replied, still with thoughts in her brain racing around for any idea of how to find Shepard.

"Aria, if you've come to gloat then now isn't the time."

"I haven't actually," The Asari folded her arms. "I've been working at this command centre since the Reapers arrived. However, I can help you out."

"Really?" Miranda raised an eyebrow, unsure exactly how the woman could help her. She decided to let Aria speak anyway, then she could get the Asari out of her way. "Go ahead then."

"Obviously there is another control panel, this one is merely a short cut to it."

Miranda sighed, that was the problem. "Clearly."

"I have a similar thing on Omega, there's a bunker that has the master controls for the station within it. I can lock out any other panels on the station from there, the connection is instant."

"This doesn't help us locate it though." Miranda turned away from the Asari, heading back towards the elevator. She thought that she could perhaps lock onto John's omni-tool from the shuttle, but she stopped walking at the sound of Aria's questioning voice.

"If you were designing a system like that, where would you put the master panel? Where would you have the quickest and most direct connection?" Miranda's lack of response prompted Aria to speak again. "What if I told you mine is below Afterlife?"

Miranda thought about that for a second, furrowing her eyebrows. Then it hit her, the answer was obvious. She turned back to face the others, a hopeful look across her face. Seeing this Aria began to smile, though Jack and Bailey looking thoroughly confused.

"I know where it is, lets go!"

Then she hurried back to the elevator, no longer caring about the injury on her ankle. As they piled back into the lift Miranda opened her omni-tool, bringing up a scan of the Presidium Tower. She had procured it when doing a mission on the Tower many years ago and it had the location of all the unexplored Keeper tunnels. She noticed that Aria had followed her into the lift, now not really bothered by her presence. She began to explain to Jack and Bailey.

"If you have a master panel then it needs to have an instant and secure connection to the other terminals, in this case in the Council Chambers," The other two nodded. "This means that the best place to locate it is, as Aria gave an example of, directly below the other panel – particularly if there is only one other access terminal."

"So, you reckon it's in one of those Keeper tunnels?" Bailey peered at the display.

"I reckon," Miranda gestured to the very bottom of the Tower on the diagram, it was in the heart of the unexplored territory at the base of the Tower. "It's right here."

The elevator stopped, Miranda rushing out with the others following. She boarded the shuttle, Jack and Eezo climbing in next to her. She ignored the questioning looks from Emily and Cortez and looked back towards Bailey.

"I have to stay here," Bailey opened up his omni-tool, typing in commands. "Take him to Huerta once you find him – I'll send a guard detail."

"Got it."

"I'm coming with you," Aria climbed into the shuttle, taking a seat opposite Jack. At Miranda's look she offered an explanation. "I still owe Shepard for Omega, and I always repay my debts."

"Fine," Miranda shut the door, walking past the others into the cockpit. She sat down and showed Steve the display on her omni-tool, pointing to the area she was sure contained both this control panel and John. "Get us to this point Steve, I don't know if we can land – you may have to blow open the walls for all I know."

"Setting off now."

The shuttle rose, quickly speeding away from the pad. It didn't take long to fly down the length of the Tower, circling carefully around it's base. They were now just below the Presidium ring, the lights of the shuttle searching around the ring of the Tower for a suitable place to land. Miranda studied the vid-feeds on the console in front of her, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Stop! Go back left, just a few metres." Steve complied, rotating the craft slowly. There in front of them was an opening, a small round area with three dark objects visible on it. She gave Steve a nod to bring them closer, rotating the shuttle again so that the door could be opened safely. Miranda got up and to the back of the shuttle, opening the door and jumping outwards onto the platform. Behind them was a view of the entire Citadel, Earth just beyond it.

As the others jumped out Miranda noticed what the first of the objects was, sitting on the edge of the platform. It was the master control panel, various lights flickering on it including an icon that looked like the Crucible. She made a note to inform Bailey when they returned, something like that would require a permanent C-Sec guard from now on.

The other two objects were bodies, both clearly dead. Miranda walked over to the first one, crouching down so that she was at eye level with the man. It was Admiral Anderson, slumped down with a pair of wounds in his torso. She checked for a pulse but it was to no avail, he had been dead for at least an hour or two. She respectfully removed his dog tags, placing them in a pocket. Miranda had never known him, but she had heard much of the man from John. She made another mental note, the body would need to be collected soon.

She stood up and turned to the other body, recoiling when she realised who it was. It was The Illusive Man, or what remained of him. Reaper tech covered parts of his body, creating a particularly disturbing look around his face. What surprised her was the wound that had caused his death, it was a shot to the temple. There was a Carnifex pistol in his hand indicating that the wound was self inflicted. She wondered if he had seen sense, had Shepard talked him out of indoctrination? He had certainly done it before, having talked Saren down on the Citadel Tower.

The body was proof of the road that she had suspected Cerberus had taken. The organisation had taken the turn down the darkest of roads, and it was because The Illusive Man had become indoctrinated. Miranda had always had the worst aspects of Cerberus hidden from her, but since beginning the Collector mission with John her eyes had been gradually opened. Even then the organisation had created some good for humanity, Miranda contributing to that herself. Cerberus had dramatically changed over the last few years, she suspected that it had started since the beginning of Lazarus. It was a shame though, despite his many downfalls The Illusive Man was once a person of great intellect, one with a grand vision for humanities future.

She turned her attention away from the body, looking for the sign of a third. There was nothing that jumped out at her, no obvious indication of Shepard's presence. She walked away from the bodies to the top of a ramp, looking beyond at a bridge in front of another ramp. She double checked the bodies but was sure that none were John's. Miranda turned back to the shuttle, the others watching her every move.

"He should be here."

"Miranda..." She cut Jack off.

"No, he must have made it. Maybe he's gone, maybe there's a path back to the inhabited areas." She sounded pretty desperate and she knew it, but Miranda wasn't going to accept that he was just gone.

"Well..." She cut Jack off again.

"No, he's definitely alive. Lets get back in the shuttle, search the surrounding areas." She walked back to the shuttle, passing the body of Anderson. As she passed him something happened, something that Miranda had not done for many years. She tripped.

Aria started towards her but Miranda got up on her own, looking around her in a confused state. The Asari took a look at Miranda's ankle, but she knew it wasn't that – it was practically healed now. Then she looked down, scrutinising the floor for clues.

"Look." She pointed to the panel she was stood on, towards the point where she had actually tripped. The panel she was on was lower than the surrounding ones, only by a few millimetres. Miranda hadn't noticed it before but it must have been what caused her to trip, catching the heel of her boots on the uneven joint.

On a hunch Miranda looked upwards to the ceiling of the room, about three metres above them. Aria followed her gaze, a hum of realisation escaping the Asari's lips.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Aria looked to her. "That panels a different colour to the rest, and it's missing from the floor."

Miranda nodded and drew back her arm, calming her body as she mustered her biotic strength. Then she let a warp fly, hurling it at the panel above them. It didn't move so she tried again but it still wasn't enough.

"Let me try." Miranda nodded, letting the Asari pass her. Aria drew her arms in close, glowing a bright blue as her immense biotic power was summoned. Then she jumped into the air, a ball of sheer biotic power smashing into the ceiling. This time it was enough, blasting the panel clean off and causing it to fly into a wall in the side of the room. The void could be seen through the hole that was left but they had no way to be sure what was up there.

"Emily," Miranda turned to the young reporter peering over the control panel. "Do you have your vid-cam with you."

The woman nodded and ran to the shuttle, returning a moment later with the camera. She opened up her omni-tool, deploying a screen which showed the view from the camera. Then she flew it upwards, sending it out of sight through the hole. Again Miranda scrutinised the screen, checking every millimetre of it for any sign of John. The camera ascended a ramp to it's right, heading upwards to the broken docking point of the Crucible. Then she exclaimed, catching sight of an unmistakable form lying on the ground.

"Give me a boost, now!" Aria complied, placing her hands in a cup shape on top of her knee. Miranda took a step towards her and jumped, the Asari propelling her with her biotic power through the hole. Miranda landed neatly, getting up and immediately running up the ramp. She stopped when she caught sight of John, mouth wide-open at the scene.

He was lying on the floor on his side, arms outstretched to the left. His armour was ruined, smashed in a variety of places. All of the armour was missing from his shoulder and below on one arm, the other missing everything from his elbow down. Burns plastered the visible skin, the melted exterior of his armour betraying the heat he had been subjected to. Bruises covered John's face along with countless lacerations, the angry orange of his skin weave visible beneath the dried blood. A small pool of blood lay underneath him, puncture wounds across his body slowly feeding into them. Yet despite all of this he was still alive, breathing very slowly and very shallowly.

Miranda rushed to his side, still in disbelief at what she was seeing. She ran a hand over the back of his head raising it up slightly as she did so. Then she gave him a quick peck on the cheek, whispering to him.

"John, wake up," She forced back tears. "Please John."

Nothing happened for a few seconds, she just sat there with his head in her lap. Then she got a shock as he began to move, a spluttering cough leaving his body. John's eyes shot open, searching his surroundings. Then his eyes settled on her, a tiny smile forming on his lips.

"Hey." His voice was tremendously weak, coming out as a rasp. It took a great deal of effort for him to speak but he still tried.

"Hey you." She ran a hand slowly down his cheek, avoiding the wounds carefully.

"Is it over?"

She gave him fond smile, it was always like him to think of the mission first. "You did it."

"Suppose I did," His face scrunched up in a look of pain, John's eyes rolling around slightly in his head. Miranda could see that he wasn't going to last long, they had to get him out of there. "Where..."

"Shh," She placed a finger across his lips, silencing him. "Don't talk, save your energy. I'm going to get you out of here."

He gave her another smile but it was again quickly replaced by a grimace of pain. Miranda carefully lowered his head back down and stood up, running back to the hole. Jack and Aria were staring upwards, waiting for her.

"He's here, but I'll need help."

"On my way." Jack replied.

Miranda turned and ran back to John, she had only left him for a few seconds but he was already unconscious again.

Jack joined her, standing next to Miranda and looking over Shepard's form. "Holy fuck."

"C'mon Jack." She mustered her biotics, creating a field around John. Jack did the same and they began to walk back to the hole, carefully levitating his body in between them. Getting him through the hole was trickier, they had to rotate his body to drop him through. Aria held him in another biotic field to ease his landing, helping the other two down afterwards as well. Then they rushed him back to the shuttle, placing him carefully on the floor in the middle.

"Step on it!" Miranda ignored Jack as she gave the order to Steve, instead focusing on Shepard. There wasn't much she could do here except stem the blood loss, the most serious injuries required specialist equipment to deal with. She ripped open medi-gel packets, spreading the salve over his many wounds and burns. Aria mimicked her actions on the other side of his body, diligently working as well as Miranda.

The shuttle stopped abruptly as it entered the Presidium ring at the nearest airlock. Then it sped off again, the engines whining as Steve pushed it as fast as it could go. For a second time it stopped just as abruptly, the doors swinging open as soon as it stopped.

Outside was a swarm of people, pushing and jostling with each other whilst being held back by C-Sec guards. At first Miranda thought they were fighting for entrance to the hospital, but then she realised what they were actually there for. They were cheering, and many were chanting Shepard's name. They were desperate for a glance at their hero, wanting to see and thank him in person. A trolley was rushed out by a group of medical staff, a French woman directing them. Miranda helped them move John onto the trolley, following them quickly.

The cheering and chanting died instantly as his body became visible to the crowd, an eerie silence settling over the hundreds of people. They stopped moving and stood stock still, staring wide eyed and shocked at his mauled form as the trolley passed. The silence shocked Miranda into stopping, looking around at the people in the crowd. It was a mixture of all races, all ages, all genders, all that had been brought together by one man. She gathered herself and walked on into the hospital, leaving the crowd behind in their respectful silence.

Once inside she made her way over to the crowd of doctors around John's body, intent on taking control of the situation. Now he needed her more than ever, she knew more about his body than any of these doctors. But as she came closer to his form she stopped once more, unable to approach any closer. Tubes and wired were being inserted into his body, an oxygen mask being slipped across his face. He looked so lifeless and helpless, almost as much of a mess as when she had first laid eyes on his corpse. The old Miranda would have shoved these doctors out of the way, she would have demanded that they listen to her and obeyed her orders.

Now she couldn't do that though. This wasn't a corpse, it wasn't an unknown dead man who could further her career within Cerberus if she succeeded with saving him. It was her lover. It was John. For the first time in her life Miranda actually felt helpless, completely powerless in a situation where she should of excelled.

Again she tried to muster the courage to approach him, and again her legs refused to move. Now a tear rolled down her cheek, followed quickly by another. She began to tremble slightly, a terrifying feeling gripping her. Miranda felt like a small child once again, completely lost and overwhelmed . She was startled by an arm slipping around her shoulder, turning to see Jack giving her a sympathetic look.

"Never thought I'd see you cry."

"I...I don't know what to do." She sniffled as she replied, her shoulders beginning to shake slightly more.

"It's called being human Miranda." The woman spoke in a surprisingly caring tone. If there was one person whom Miranda thought would never be consoling her was Jack, but now she barely cared about it.

"Well I hate it," She rubbed her eyes, drying them slightly before continuing. "I should be able to go in there, to save him."

"No you shouldn't," Jack gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. "You know why?"

Miranda shook her head.

"Because I think you love him, right?" This time she nodded. "And that means this hurts you, you can feel his pain and it's taking over everything else."

She nodded her head again, seeing him in this state was killing her.

Jack continued, inquiring rather gently. "And you've never really been in this kind of position before have you?"

"No. He's the only person I've cared about this much," She paused. "Except Oriana, but that's different."

"You know, you ain't that bad after all Miranda," Jack gave her a smile before speaking in a lighter tone. "I meant that display in the engine room showed you were pretty passionate, but this shows that you care."

Miranda looked at her. "How did you know?"

"How did we not know?" Jack raised an eyebrow. "There were windows on every level!"

"I blacked them out, there was no way you could have gotten past that." Miranda stated sheepishly.

"Ah, but we had a genius and rather nosy thief," Miranda shook her head in disbelief, Kasumi was probably the only one who would be both able and willing to do that. "Jacob was a bit riled, but the rest of us enjoyed the show."

Miranda turned her gaze back to Shepard, the doctors running around madly at the orders of the French woman. She didn't get around to answering Jack, prompting the woman to give her another squeeze on the arm.

"They know what they're doing Miranda, you're not the only doctor in the galaxy," Jack turned her gaze towards Shepard as well. "And he's not exactly a pushover either, he'll pull through."

"I suppose you're right."

She felt a pawing on her leg, looking down to see Eezo rubbing it's head along her calf affectionately. Miranda rubbed a hand along it's snout, allowing it to lick her hand contentedly.

"Oh, and thanks for Eezo Miranda," Jack patted the beast on the head. "I think he likes you actually."

Miranda managed to come up with a line of dry humour. "So he should."

Then they lapsed into silence, standing next to one another as a stark contrast to the frantic movements of those around John.

**A/N Just to let you know, I've got the plan for the sequel already written. It's going to be a one shot series detailing Miranda and Shepard after the war. Sometimes the chapters will have only a day between them, other times there could be gaps of years – I'm going to cover what I reckon is important basically. However I have decided it'll be in peace time with some rebuilding, war time sequels are being done by others (A particularly good one is Forgoing the Inevitable, I assume that most of you have read it – If not then do). It'll be detailing the difficulties and struggles of their lives afterwards, can they have a normal life, can they get away from the shadow of the war etc. **

**One more chapter to go for this first however.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N So here it is, the final chapter. A little short I know, but it leads into the start of the sequel nicely. Also I have done major edits to the previous chapter, I wasn't happy with my writing of Miranda in parts.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 19 – New Beginnings

October 16th 2186 - Crucible Pulse + Three Weeks

Miranda smiled to herself as she flew the skycar through the Presidium. Today was a good day, today John was being discharged. Today it was officially over, his ordeal with the Reapers was concluded. Well, sort of. She supposed that he would never be the same man, there was no way anyone could be unaffected by what he had experienced. But she was going to help him through it, that was now her sole focus.

Garrus and Ashley had been brought to Huerta along with many other injured fighters only a couple of hours after John had arrived there, immediately seeking him out. Together Garrus and Miranda had maintained a continuous vigil over his unconscious form, the Turian refusing to leave his best friend alone and Miranda refusing to allow him to wake up to a sight other than her. Whilst the doctors had assured them that they needn't stay around the clock neither had listened, and Ashley and Jack hadn't bothered to suggest that they listened. Instead the two had brought food and drinks for the pair meaning they never had to leave John's side.

During the first touch and go week he had been kept in an induced coma as the doctors worked on his more pressing injuries. Miranda had gotten over her initial horrified state after a day or two and began to help out with the staff, recounting a full medical history and giving detailed reports on his various implants. Despite this though she refused to partake in any psychical work on his body, Miranda didn't trust herself with his life in this new and concerning emotional state.

The various squad members that had been on Earth had gradually joined them over the course of the first week, given leave by their commanders to see how Shepard was. Bailey had organised a series of apartments in the same block as John's own in Tiberius Towers for the squadmates, making sure that there was extra space for when the Normandy arrived back in system with the rest of the squad. The Mass Relays had been damaged in the Crucible blast but were still functioning at a reduced capacity until repaired, priority being given to military craft. Nevertheless the Normandy had arrived six days after the victory, the members of the squad and Oriana immediately travelling to Huerta.

Then, after eight days of anxiety, John had woken up for the first time. Miranda was the only one present, with Garrus having being dragged off by Tali with the threats of a beating, and was thoroughly surprised when John did wake up. She had been half asleep in the dead of night when he had spoken, asking firstly for a kiss and secondly for a packet of biscuits. Miranda was very rarely taken off guard but on this case she was startled, jumping up and readying herself to defend John. The sound of light chuckling causing her to turn around with wide eyes and her often used phrase – You ass! - on her tongue. Miranda did relent pretty quickly though, complying with his first request and calling a nurse to find something to eat. He did deserve his comforts of course. News had spread across the Citadel like wildfire the following day, the crowds once again lining up outside Huerta to try and get a glimpse at the galaxy's saviour.

During the past two weeks John had improved exponentially, growing stronger every day. At the beginning of this week he had been able to walk again, though only with aid of either a walking stick or Miranda herself. He still required some aid now and he did tire easily, but there was no need for hospital aid any more. Miranda could take care of him herself with ease.

It was only Miranda and John left on the Citadel now though, everyone else having left in the last few days. The Normandy had already been sent into action with Ashley in command, ordered by Hackett to begin searching planets for the remnants of Cerberus. Garrus and Tali had not gone with them though, her duties on Rannoch had to come first and Garrus had followed her back. The team members from the Collector mission had also left in their various ways, many moving to work with the Alliance whilst others returned to their home worlds to begin the process of rebuilding.

Oriana had also left, heading off two days ago. Miraculously her mother had survived along with her grandparents and were staying in an Alliance outpost on the borders of the Terminus Systems. Miranda had been loathed to let her little sister out of her sight but knew it was for the best, Oriana was growing up and didn't need continuous monitoring. Miranda knew it was hardly the end though, the two had been in continuous contact by messaging each other over the days and they had promised to visit each other regularly. She was content with those arrangements, she would still see and talk to Oriana all the time whilst spending her life with John.

She looked down before turning the skycar for it's final approach to the hospital, checking for other traffic. The damage had been, as Bailey said, minimal to the Presidium and the upper wards. A lot of it was merely broken windows and smashed shop fronts, and those were easily rectifiable. In fact a few shops had reopened in the last week, many others due to open during the rest of the month. It was truly amazing how unscathed the place was considering it had been invaded twice during the war, the engineers had placed final repairs at taking no longer two years to complete. Of course moving it back through the relays was another matter, no one knew exactly how the Reapers had managed it.

Miranda set the skycar down, quickly exiting and locking the vehicle. Despite herself she was particularly exited, looking forward to the prospect of a new life. She had always underrated people who longed for a quiet life, never quite really grasping why someone wouldn't want to contribute to the greater good of the galaxy. She had always thought that it would be a dull and potentially a pointless way to spend a life, but now she had an entirely new perspective. Miranda couldn't think of anything better than her future with John, they had done enough for the greater good of the galaxy and deserved their own lives.

Miranda dodged past the throng of civilians and press reporters, entering the hospital but stopping just after passing through the doors, quickly reprimanding herself. Though they had talked of a quiet life both before and after the Reapers destruction Miranda had to make sure she didn't think for the pair of them. She knew John wanted her, that was beside the point, but did he want to settle down right away? As she had left the previous night she had seen Admiral Hackett arrive to visit John for the first time, though she didn't stop to speak to him. Miranda had guessed that he would want John to stay on in the Alliance, and if that was what he wanted to do then she would join him. Although it wasn't her favourite of organisations, she would make it work regardless. Although her needs were important she was more concerned for John, he had to take the right time to heal and recuperate after the war.

Miranda shook her head of the thoughts, heading into the ward. She passed the Turian C-Sec guards without giving them a glance, knowing that they wouldn't try to stop her from going in. John was sat up on top of the bed reading, clothed in plain jeans and an N7 t-shirt. He looked much more at ease to Miranda than he had been for the past week, being locked up in a hospital room was irritating for a man like John despite her best efforts to keep him entertained. He looked up as Miranda walked in, giving her a warm smile. She walked straight up to him, planting a tender kiss on his lips before speaking.

"Hey."

"Hey babes," She rolled her eyes at his nickname, standing back and folding her arms with a mock glare. "Sorry Miri."

She laughed at his backtracking, giving him another kiss before sitting down in the chair by his bed.

"So, when can you leave?"

"Doctor Michel's just signing off the forms now, shouldn't be more than a few minutes."

"Good," She poured herself a small glass of water from a jug on the beside table, studying Shepard as she did so. She could tell he was in deep thought, that ever so common pensive look across his face. Miranda was pretty sure of what he was thinking about and gave him a prompt. "What is it John?"

"Hackett came by just after you left yesterday."

"Yes, I saw him arrive."

"Well, he offered me a promotion," He looked down as he spoke. "Said I would at least be made a captain."

"And..." He turned to look at her.

"I said thanks but no thanks," She could tell that he wasn't finished so Miranda kept quiet, taking another sip of water. "I want us, just us you know? I want to have some peace, I can't go on with all of this war and fighting. And I don't want to put you through any worry about me at all, and I certainly could never go through another Sanctuary."

"John," She placed her hand over his own, giving him a slight squeeze. He was speaking rapidly, reeling off his reasons to her. She could sense the unspoken worry that he had neglected to speak, John was concerned of whether that life would be enough for her. She had already told him it was what she wanted as well, but he was still unsure. "I want this as well, I really do."

"Good," He looked up at her, a relieved smile coming across his face. "Great. There's so much we can do, literally whatever we want. And then there's kids, I've always liked the name Elizabeth, and..."

"Hold on a second John," She gave him another squeeze, speaking softly. "You have to let me try and cure it first, and that might not be possible."

"Of course it is, you're a genius Miri."

She paused before replying, not quite sure of what to say. Before meeting John she had never received praised so freely and genuinely from anyone, it had always been part of an overall agenda on behalf of whoever she was speaking too. But whenever John spoke to her like that it felt special, it really meant something to her. Maybe it was a feeling that was more akin to a little girls desire to please, but it really made her feel wanted by him. Yet another new and desirable feeling.

"I'm touched by your faith in me John."

"It's a fact, if you can cure my death problem then you can do anything," He shrugged as he spoke, intertwining his fingers with hers. Both looked up as Doctor Michel entered the room. "Ah Doctor, have you come to spring me from your ward?"

The woman laughed. "That I have, you are free to go."

"Great." John placed his book in the bag by his bed, swinging his legs around and off the mattress. He slowly lowered his feet onto the ground and stood up, Miranda offering him a hand.

"Commander, I assume that the answer is no but," Doctor Michel gestured to the corner of the room. "Would you like a wheelchair?"

"Thanks for the offer but..."

"The man is too stubborn," Miranda interrupted him and turned to face John whilst speaking in a chiding voice. "But would you rather injure yourself again by falling?"

"I won't fall," John gave her a grin. "I have my beautiful girlfriend to support me."

"Really?" Miranda raised an eyebrow, giving him a playful glare at his cheesy line.

"You love it really, plus it'll make a better picture for the press."

"I suppose so."

With that the two walked out of the room slowly, John with an arm around Miranda's shoulders. They made their way over to the exit of the hospital, giving their thanks to Doctor Michel and her team once more. Then they stopped before the main doors to Huerta, Miranda turning her head to face him.

"You OK?"

He swallowed before replying, giving Miranda a slight smile. "Yes, I think I am."

She gave him a peck on the cheek, slipping an arm around his waist. Then they walked out of the room to a wall of noise, crowds cheering and cameras flashing as they emerged to the beginnings of their future.

**A/N So there's only really one thing left and that's to thank you guys for reading/commenting/supporting this fic - that's what has motivated me to do this. I've loved writing it and will be back in a few weeks for more!**


End file.
